THE INSPIRATION 



BIBLE 



FIVE LECTURES, 



DELIVERED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 



i*¥* 



BY 



CHR. WORDSWORTH^D.D. 

BISHOP OP LINCOLN. 



EIGHTH EDITION. 



RIVINGTONS, 
3Lontton, <%fortt, anU Cambridge. 






LONDON : 

GILBERT AND KIVINGTON, PEINTEBS, 

ST. JOHN'S SQTJABE. 



ciLU'UtU- 



"\ 









PREFATORY NOTE TO THE 
EIGHTH EDITION. 



The following Lectures were delivered in West- 
minster Abbey by the Author when Canon of 
that church. Attacks on the Veracity and Inspira- 
tion of Holy Scripture, which then startled and 
shocked the Church, have now become more vio- 
lent and frequent ; but they have strengthened the 
faith of the devout student of Scripture, because 
they are fulfilments of prophecies which he reads 
in its pages ; and they make him resort with more 
thankfulness and love to the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, the Incarnate Word, who has set His seal 
on the Written Word. 

More than fourteen hundred years ago, St 
Augustine 1 (when contending against the errors 

1 S. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, lib. xi. c. 1. 3. " Ipsa Veritas, 
Deus, Dei Filitts, Mediator Dei et hominum, Homo Christus 
Jesus, prius per Prophetas, deinde per Se Ipstjm, postea per 
Apostolos, quantum satis esse judicavit, locutus, etiam Sceip- 
tttram condidit, quse Canonica appellatur, eminentissima? 
auctoritatis, cui fidem habemus de iis rebus, quas ignorare non 
eipedit, nee per nosmetipsos nosse idonei sumus." 

S. Augustin. c. Faustum ii. c. 5. " Distincta est a postcri- 



iv Prefatory Note 

of the Manichasans concerning Scripture, which 
have been revived in the nineteenth century, 
declared a fundamental truth, which ought to be 
ever present to the mind of the Christian reader. 
He affirmed that Christ, the Eternal Word of God 
is the Giver of the Written Word, and that when 
for our sakes He became Man, He set His seal 
upon the Old Testament : and that after His 
Ascension He enabled the Apostles and Evangel- 
ists, by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, — 
whom He sent to them from Heaven, — to write 
the New Testament ; and that He is ever present 
with His Church Universal, and has sent the 
Holy Ghost to abide with her for ever; and that 
therefore the witness of the Church Universal to 
the Genuineness, Veracity and Inspiration of Holy 
Scripture is no other than the testimony of Christ, 
the Son of God, and of God the Holy Ghost, the 
Spirit of Life and Light. 

The Ancient Christian Church represented this 

oribus libiis excellentia Cakonios: auctoritatis Veteris et 
Novi Testamenti, quae Apostolorum confirmata teruporibus, 
per successiones Episcopates et propagations Bcclesiarum tan- 
quam in sede quadam sublimiter coustituta est, cui serviat ononis 
fidelis et phis Intellectus." 

S. Augustine de Consens. Evangel, lib. i. cap. ult. also well 
says, " Christus, Qui Prophetas ante Suam descensionem misit, 
Ipse ct Apostolos post Suam ascensionem misit . . . ■ quicquid Ille 
de Suis factis et dictis nos legere voluit, hoe scribendum illis 
tanquam Suis manibus imperavit." 



to the Eighth Edition. y 

great truth by works of Sacred Art. In the 
Catacombs of Rome she displayed it in frescos 2 
pourtraying Christ, seated on a throne, with an 
Opened Book in His hand — the Bible— its pages 
turned outward to the spectator. On His right 
side and on the left, are two ccvpsce or scrinia, or 
cylindrical caskets, containing rolls of papyri, — 
the Volumes of the Old and New Testament. 
Further beyond, on the right and left, are two 
standing figures, representing the two Apostles, 
St. Peter and St. Paul — the Apostles of the 
Hebrew and Gentile Churches. By such pictures 
as these she set forth the doctrine that it is 
Christ Himself Who speaks in the Bible; and 
that He also delivers the Bible by means of the 
ministry of the Apostolic Church Universal to 
the World. 

It has been the design of the Author to develope 
these truths in the following Lectures. 

Risehohne, Epiphany, 1875. 

2 Such a fresco may be seen engraved and described in 
Dideon's " Iconographie Chretienne," p. 29, Paris 1843, who says, 
" Ce monument date des premiers siecles de 1' figlise;" and in the 
Rev. Wharton Marriott's " Vestiarium Christianum," Plate xii.and 
p. 235, London, 1868. 



CONTENTS. 



LECTURE I. 

PAGE 

Importance of the subject proposed 1 

Attacks upon the Bible in ancient times .... 2 

Prospects for the future 3 

The last days will be days of unbelief ib. 

Predictions in the Apocalypse ib. 

Change of opinion in some quarters in England . . 4 

What we mean by Inspiration 5 

What it is not ib. 

Compared to the Transfiguration ib. 

Analogies between the Written Word and the Incarnate 

Word 6 

Inspiration and the Incarnation 7 

The Writers of Scripture are channels of Divine Truth . 7, 8 
The Holy Ghost is the Author of Prophecy, which came 

through the Prophets 8 

There are no Errors in the genuine, original^ text of the 

Word of God 9, 10 

Destructive consequences of the opposite statement; the 
objection of a modern Sceptic to some recent theolo- 
gical writers 11 

The Bible is for peasants and children ; are they to reject 

some parts of it, and accept others ? . . . . 12 
Some of the most mysterious parts of the Bible were writ- 
ten by the instrumentality of illiterate men ; would 
this have been the case, if the writers were not to be 
preserved from error by its Divine Author ? . 13 



viii Contents. 

PAGE 

As men, the Writers of Scripture were fallible in practice. 14 
But as writers of books, which have been received as Holy 
Scripture by the Universal Church, which is the mys- 
tical Body of Christ, they have not erred in writing . 15 
Why they sometimes speak doubtingly .... 16 
The language of Scripture is human, but is under Divine 

guidance 17, 18 

The Various Headings in the different Manuscripts of the 
Hebrew and Greek Originals of the Old and New 
Testaments, are no evidence of uncertainty ; but, on 
the contrary, are the ground of confidence in the Text 
of the Bible, which has been formed by the collations 

of different Manuscripts 20 

What is the true ground of belief in the Inspiration of the 

Bible? 20 

Is our private consciousness a sufficient ground ? . .20, 21 
No; that is no argument to others; and not a safe one 

to ourselves 21, 22 

Different persons have different perceptions; and //"private 
consciousness were to be admitted as a ground for 
belief in the inspiration of a Book, we should have a 
great variety of different and contradictory Books, 

each admitted to be inspired 23 

Calamitous results of this theory in foreign countries . 23, 24 
It has now been developed in an infidel direction in England 25, 26 
Present religious crisis in England 28 



LECTURE II. 

Recapitulation 30 

Private consciousness is not sufficient to prove the Inspira- 
tion of the Bible 31 

Nor can Scripture itself alone prove its own Inspiration . ib. 
What are the true grounds of belief in the Truth and 

Inspiration of the Old Testament ? . . . . 32 

1. Testimony of God, in the reception of the Old 
Testament by the Jewish Church. 



Contents. 



2. Testimony of Jesus Christ, the Sox of God, 

receiving tbe Old Testament. 

3. Testimony of God the Holt Ghost, in the Chris- 

tian Church — receiving the Old Testament . 33 

These propositions are now to be proved . . . . ib. 
First then, it is to be shown that the Old Testament, which 
is in our hands, is the same as tbe Old Testament in 

the age of Christ 34 

Proof of this 34,35 

How did the Jews of our Lord's age regard the Old Testa- 
ment ? 35, 36 

As true and divine 36 

Testimony of Josephus to this statement . . . . 36, 37 
How were they persuaded, that tbe Old Testament as it was 

in their age, was genuine, authentic, true, and divine? 38 
Answer to this question ; from external evidence . . 39 

And from internal 40 

Original of the Pentateuch enshrined in tbe Holy of Holies 44 
To be copied out by the Kings ..... 45 

Inspiration of the Prophetical Books, how proved . . 47, 48 
God's wonderful providence in making tbe Jews the guar- 
dians of the Old Testament ..... ib. 

Completion of the Canon of the Old Testament . . 49, 50 

The external evidences of its truth and inspiration are con- 
firmed by internal proofs . . . . . . 51 

Reply to a sceptical objection, grounded on tbe rejection of 

Christ by the Jews . . . . . . 51, 52 

Argument in favour of the truth and inspiration of the Old 

Testament, from the blindness and unbelief of the Jews 52 
Recapitulation of the argument ..... 52, 53 

The Testimony of God bearing witness in the Hebrew 
Church to tbe Truth and Inspiration of the Old Testa- 
ment is further confirmed by the witness of the Son of 
God, and of God the Holy Ghost in the Christian 
Church; and thus tbe belief in the truth and inspiration 
of the Old Testament rests on the authority of the 
Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity — 
This proposition to be proved in the next Lectures . . 54 



x Contents. 

LECTURE III. 

PAGE 

On the Testimony of Jesus Christ to the Old Testament 56 

First, it is to be shown that the four Gospels are true . ib. 

Proof of their truth 57—60 

Inferences from this proof: Cheist is God, and knows all 

things, and came to bear witness to the Truth . . 61 

How did He treat the Old Testament ? .... 63 

He agreed with the Jews, who received the whole of it as 

true, and as inspired 63, 64 

Evidence of this 64, 65 

Christ's testimony to the Old Testament at the Temptation 
— and in the Synagogues, — in His public teaching; and 
after His Resurrection 64—66 

Allegations considered, (1) that Jesus Christ spoke only 
" as a learned Jewish Rabbi ;" 

and (2) that He " accommodated Himself to the popular 

opinions of the Jews " 67, 68 

Testimony of God the Holt Ghost to the truth and in- 
spiration of the Old Testament 69 

Appeal to the authority of Christ in reply to sceptical objec- 
tions against portions of the Old Testament ; e. g. 

From Geology and other physical sciences ; and from 

Moral or Metaphysical speculations . . . 69 — 72 

Moral use of difficulties in the Old Testament ; such as the 
standing still of the Sun at the bidding of Joshua ; the 
histories of Balaam, and Jonah, &c. Book of Daniel 73 — 76 

We enjoy far greater advantages with regard to the Old 
Testament than were possessed by the Jews; and our 
responsibilities are proportional to our privileges . 77 

Holy Scripture is set for our moral probation; and our 

eternal happiness depends on our use of it . . 78, 80 

LECTURE IV. 

What are the grounds of our belief in the Inspiration of the 

'New Testament ?....... 81 

It has been proved that the Gospels are true ... 83 



Contents. xi 

PAGE 

In those Gospels (proved to be true) we have certain decla- 
rations from Christ (Who in those Gospels is shown to 
be God) concerning the Church, which He has 
founded 84 

He promised to send the Holy Ghost to teach her all 
things ; to guide her into all truth, and to abide with 
her for ever ib. 

The Apostles and Evangelists, being taught by the Holt 
Ghost, wrote the Neio Testament ; which has been 
received, as true and as divinely inspired, by the Holt 
Ghost dwelling in the Universal Church, which is the 
body of Christ, the Pillar and Ground of Truth ; and 
is publicly read by her as of equal authority with the 
Old Testament which Jesus Christ, the Sox of God, 
received as true and inspired .... 84—86 

Analogy in the means used by God for preserving and 

authenticating both Testaments .... 86 

Purposes served by the public reading of the New Tes- 
tament in the Church 88 

Why some smaller portions of the New Testament were 

not received at once 90 

The Church does not give authority to Scripture : but 
bears witness that Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God 92 

Review of the reasons for which we receive Scripture, on 

the testimony of the Church 92, 93 

The wisdom of the Church of England in regard to this 

question of Inspiration 93 

Her principles contrasted with those of some other religious 

bodies 93, 94 

The Church Universal is the Candlestick in which the 

Light of Scripture is placed by God .... 95 

They who separate the Light from the Candlestick are in 

danger of losing both ... ... 98 

Moral requisites for receiving the Bible as true and inspired 99 

The internal evidence of the truth and inspiration of the 

Bible confirms the external ..... 101 

Anticipations of a future State when Holt Scbiptuee 

will be more fully understood 102 



xii Contents. 

LECTURE V. 

PAGE 

Recapitulation of the argument in behalf of the truth and 

inspiration of the Bible .... . 103 

That argument is confirmed by the evidence of God's provi- 
dential care of the Bible 106—109 

Illustrated by reference to the history of the Bible in Eng- 
land 110 

The fulfilment of the Prophecies of the Bible also confirms 

the proof of its truth and inspiration . - . 112 

That proof is still further confirmed by the harmony of 

the several parts of the Bible 113 

The weakness of the instruments used in writing the Bible, 
and the effects produced by their instrumentality, is a 
further confirmation of the truth that the Bible is from 
God . . . .114 

The beneficial changes wrought in the world by the Bible 

are also evidences of its divine origin . . 115 — 118 

Testimony of the English Nation to the divine origin of 

the Bible 119 

Meditations on the truth and inspiration of the Bible, sug- 
gested by the Abbey Church of Westminster . 120 — 122 

Proofs of the divine power of the Holt Bible at death- 
beds, and in the prospect of Eternity . . . 123 

The Day of Judgment will prove the truth of the Bible . ib. 

Conclusion ib. 



LECTURE I. 



1 Petee iii. 15. 

Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asTcethyou 
a reason of the hope that is in you. 

I. 1. The hope that is in us as Christians rests 
upon the belief that the Bible is the Word of God. 
The works of the natural Creation declare His 
Power, but they do not reveal to us the Mysteries 
of Faith. Human Eeason could never have assured 
us that sinners may obtain pardon through God's 
mercy in a Redeemer, and that we may also obtain 
spiritual grace, enabling us to do His Will. We 
could never have discovered by our intellectual 
faculties, that there is a Judgment to come, and a 
Resurrection of the Body, and joys eternal in 
heaven for those who believe and obey Him. 

These are supernatural truths, and they are 
revealed to us in the Bible, and in the Bible alone. 
And by faith in these truths we are excited to do 
our duty to God, our neighbour, and ourselves : 
we are encouraged to suffer patiently, and to live 
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, 

B 



2 Attach s upon the Bible in ancient times. 

looking for thatblessed hope, and the glorious appear- 
ing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ '. 
Therefore the Apostle St. Paul says, Whatsoever 
things were written aforetime were written for our 
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the 
Scriptures might have hope 2 , 

2. Our spiritual Enemy knows, that belief in 
the Inspiration of the Bible is the foundation of 
all Christian faith and Christian virtue ; and that, if 
" the belief in the authority of Scripture is shaken, 
then Christian faith will falter, and if Christian 
faith falters, then Christian love will fail 3 ," and 
that the fabric of human Society will be dissolved, 
and that men and nations will become victims of 
his power, and be involved in confusion and ruin. 

The Evil One has therefore been indefatigable 
in his attempts to shake this foundation. In an- 
cient days he enlisted Kings against the Bible. 
He incited Antiochus Epiphanes to take up arms 
against the Old Testament. He raised up the 
Emperor Diocletian against the New. He engaged 
sceptical philosophers, such as Celsus, Porphyry, 
and Julian, in an intellectual campaign against 
the Word of God. He beguiled some, who called 
themselves Christians, to impugn the Bible. The 

1 Titus ii. 12, 13. 2 Rom. xv. 4. 

3 S. Azigustine de Doct. Christiana i. 41, " Titubabit fides, si 
divinarum Scripturaruni vacillat auctoritas ; porrd, fide titubaute, 
charitas et etiam ipsa languescet." And so Hooker (Ill.viii. 13) 
says, " The main principle whereupon our belief of all things 
therein contained dependeth, is that the Scriptures are the Oracles 
of God." 



The last days ivill be days of unbelief . 3 

Marcionites and the Manichaaans alleged that 
the Old Testament is contrary to the New. 
Other heretical Teachers rejected portions of both 
Testaments, others distorted their meaning by 
novel interpretations, and substituted their own 
imaginations in the place of the Word of God. 

The Church of God, with the Bible in her hands, 
regards the past with thankfulness, and looks for- 
ward to the future with hope. She knows that 
the Holy Scriptures have already passed through 
a severe ordeal ; and she is sure, that their Divine 
Author, Who has never failed to protect them, 
will defend them unto the end. She is persuaded 
that all attacks upon the Bible will issue in its 
victory, and will manifest more clearly that it is 
the Word of God. 

As the end of the world draws near, the Bible 
may expect new conflicts, and may hope for new 
conquests. The Bible will be treated as Christ 
was treated by the World. The career of the 
Written Word will be like that of the Incaenate { 
Wo ed. It will have its Gethsemane, and its Cal- 
vary; but it will have also its glorious Resurrection 
and Ascension. Its prophecies concerning itself 
will be fulfilled. The Two Witnesses will preach in 
sackcloth 41 . That is, the Two Testaments will 
preach in sorrow. They may seem to be dead ; but 
they will revive and be caught up into heaven, 
and all their foes will be confounded. The Enemy 

4 See Rev. xi. 3, 4. The author begs leave to refer to the 
exposition of that prophecy in his notes on the passage. 
B 2 



4 Attacks on the Bible in the present age. 

of Holy Scripture will rage more fiercely, in propor- 
tion as his doom is nearer. He will make more 
desperate assaults upon Holy Writ, knowing that 
he hath but a sliort time 5 . But it will triumph, and 
be glorified, and judge the world. (John xii. 48.) 

3. England has hitherto stood high among the 
Nations of the World, during some centuries, for 
her reverent esteem of the Bible. But now a 
change seems to be taking place. Persons emi- 
nent for high position in our Schools of Learning 
and in the Church, and exercising great influence, 
have not hesitated to avow an opinion, that por- 
tions of Holy Scripture are blemished by error, 
and cannot have come from Him who is the 
Truth. 

Such affirmations as these require us to exa- 
mine the grounds of our own belief in the 
Inspiration of Holy Writ. And since it is our 
duty to promote the temporal and eternal hap- 
piness of others, as well as our own, we ought to 
be prepared to give an answer to every one ivho asks 
us a reason of the hope that is in us. 

This then is the question before us — 

By what reasons are we persuaded, and by what 
arguments would we persuade others, that the 
Bible is the Word of God ? 

II. In dealing with this subject, let us first 
explain what we mean when we say that the Scrip- 
tures are inspired by God. 

e Kev. xii. 12. 



What do ive mean by Inspiration ? 5 

1. We do not intend thereby to affirm, that the 
Writers of Holy Scripture were constrained to 
write, without any volition or consciousness on 
their part. David, singing the Psalms, was not 
like the Harp in David's hand. It was a me- 
chanical instrument, but he was a free agent. 
The Holy Ghost inspired the writers of Holy Scrip- 
ture. Holy men, says St. Peter 6 , spake, being moved 
or borne along 7 by the Holy Ghost. All Scripture 
is given by inspiration of God, says St. Paul 8 . It 
is animated by His Divine breath 9 . But He did 
not impair their moral and intellectual faculties, 
nor destroy their personal identity. 

Inspiration may be called a spiritual Trans- 
figuration. At the Transfiguration of Christ on 
the Holy Mount, as described in the Gospels, 
Moses and Elias appeared in glory 10 . Moses the 
Giver of the Law was there, and Elias the greatest 
of the Prophets. They were transfigured. But 
Moses retained his identity ; so did Elias. Moses 
was still Moses, and Elias was still Elias. Each 
was recognized by the Disciples, Peter, James, 
and John. 

So it is with the Writers of Holy Scripture. 

e 2 Pet. i. 21. 

* Qepofjievoi, carried along like a ship by the wind, or like a 
vessel on a stream. In this text the Vatican Manuscript has 
i\dhr)(rai> curb Qiov avdpanoi/i. e. mm cpakefrom God; and thi3 
reading gives greater force to the assertion of their Divine In- 
spiration. 

8 2 Tim. iii. 16. 9 6e6irvev<TTos. 

io Matt. xvii. 2, 3. Luke ix. 30, 31, Cf . 2 Pet. i. 18. 



6 Divine and Human Elements in the Bible. 

Moses, when inspired, was raised above Moses 
uninspired. St. Peter, St. John, and St. Paul, 
when writing Holy Scripture, were lifted above 
themselves by the power of the Holy Ghost. They 
were raised above their own level, and that of this 
lower world, and were placed as it were on a ' ' holy 
mount." In Scripture, the Holy men, through 
whose instrumentality we have received the Law, 
the Prophecies, and the Gospels, are joined to- 
gether with Christ, as it were, on a Mountain of 
Transfiguration ; they are illumined by His 
glorious light, and the cloud of His presence 
overshadows them. But each of them retains his 
identity, each shines in his own sphere : they are 
spiritualized and glorified ; they are transfigured. 
In the written Word of God there is a holy 
union of human with divine, and we are not able 
to draw the line, where what is human ends, and 
what is divine begins. This union of human with 
divine in the Written Word, bears some resemblance 
to one of the greatest Mysteries of our faith, the 
union of God with Man in the Incarnate Word. 
The Inspiration of Scripture maybe compared to 
the Incarnation of Christ. Jesus Christ is Em- 
manuel, God with us l , God manifest in the flesh 2 . 
The two Natures of God and Man are joined to- 
gether in His One Person. But who can draw 
the line, where God's nature ends, and where 
Man's nature begins, in the Person of Christ ? 
The union of God and Man in the Incarnate Word 
1 Matt. i. 23. 2 1 Tim. iii. 16. 



Inspiration and the Incarnation compared. 7 

is a Mystery. So is the union of the Divine ele- 
ment with the human in the Written Word. In 
both cases the Mystery baffles our powers of 
analysis. In both cases the Mystery, like the 
mid-day sun in the heavens, dazzles the eye with 
its brightness ; we cannot gaze upon it. But, in 
both cases also, the Mystery, like the Sun in the 
heavens, enables us to see. All would be dim in 
the spiritual world, without the light of the In- 
carnate Word, and of the Written Word. And 
in both cases it is the union of Divinity with 
Humanity, which is the cause of spiritual light. 

Let us illustrate this by another comparison. 
Holy Scripture is God's Word written. The 
things written are from God; all Scripture is 
given by Inspiration of God. The fresh and 
living Water of heavenly Truth issues from one 
Source, and that Source is Divine ; but the water 
flows in various streams. The Fountain is Divine, 
the element is heavenly ; but the channels are 
earthly, and the channels do not change the 
essential quality of the water, but they modify its 
direction and its course, and tinge it, as it were, 
with the colour of the soil of the banks through 
which the water flows. The heavenly water acts 
upon the earthly margins of the streams ; and the 
margins act upon the water ; they act and react 
upon each other with a simultaneous and con- 
current operation. Sometimes the Divine element 
of Inspired Truth rushes vehemently in torrents 
and in cataracts, in the impetuous fervour of St. 



8 The Word of God 

Paul. Sometimes it diffuses itself, and sleeps in 
calm and deep lakes, in the love and gentleness 
of St. John. The Element is one and the same, 
and Divine; the channels are different, and 
human; the power of the one destroys not the 
liberty of the other ; Divine Grace does not annul 
the human intellect and will, though it is sug- 
gestive, preventive, suppletory, auxiliary to them | 
but the Divine Spirit, and the human Intellect 
and Will, concur and act together in loving 
harmony and joy. 

2. In accordance with this statement it may be 
remarked, that the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment are described in Scripture as coming to us 
through (Slo) the Prophets. This is the manner 
in which the prophecies of the Old Testament are 
quoted in the New 3 . The Holy Ghost is the 
Author of the prophecies which are delivered by 
the Prophets, He is the Everlasting Fountain; 
the Prophecy is the living water, the Prophet is 
the channel, through which it flows. 

3. We afnrni, then, that there is a human ele- 
ment in Holy Scripture ; but we assert also that 
this human element is refined, sublimed, spi- 
ritualized, and purified from the taint of human 
error, in the Word of God. We are not among 
those who say, that Holy Scripture is marred and 
blemished by imperfections and inaccuracies. 
We cannot concur with some who affirm that 
there are historical inaccuracies in the Pentateuch 

3 Matt. ii. 5. 15. 17. 23 ; iii. 3 ; iv. 14, &c. 



not blemished ivith human errors. 9 

and in the Books of Joshua and the Judges, and 
of Samuel. We cannot agree in the assertion 
that the Holy Evangelist St. Matthew errs in his 
exposition of the Prophecies recited in his first 
and second chapters. We cannot allow that St. 
Matthew and St. Luke are at variance with one 
another in their narratives of the incidents of our 
Lord's infancy; we cannot concede that St. Mark 
errs when he says that David ate the shewbread 
in the days of Abiathar the High Priest 4 . We 
cannot admit, that St. Luke errs, in saying that 
the Taxing at the Nativity took place in the time 
of Cyrenius 5 . We cannot grant, that St. John 
errs, when he says that the Chief Priests had not 
eaten the Passover on the day of the Crucifixion 6 . 
We cannot concede that either he 7 or St. Mark 8 
errs in their record of the hour on which the 
Crucifixion took place. We know that these 
allegations may be, and have been refuted ; and 
we deliberately state our conviction, that while 
there are sundry varieties serving to complete the 
Evangelical history, there is'no contradiction in it 9 . 
Again ; we cannot concur with those who say 
that there are historical mistakes in St. Stephen's 
speech to the Hebrew Sanhedrim 1 ) and that there- 

4 Mark ii. 26. 5 Luke ii. 2. 6 John xviii. 18. 

7 John xix. 14. 8 Mark xv. 25. 

9 Cp. JEuseb. Demonst. Evang. iii. 5, and 8. Augustine's trea- 
tise De Consensu Evangelistarum, and the notes on these 
passages in my edition of the Greek Testament. 

1 See on Acts vii. Cp. the case of Deborah speaking of Jael : 
and my notes at end of Judges iv. 



10 Inferences derived by Sceptics from the 

fore the Author of the Acts of the Apostles errs 
when he says that St. Stephen was full of the Roll/ 
Ghost, and that no one could resist the wisdom and 
the spirit by which he spake 2 . We cannot agree 
with those who affirm that St. Paul erred 3 when 
writing to the Thessalonians, and that he " enter- 
tained and expressed a belief which the event did 
not justify/' namely, that the Day of the Lord 
would come while he himself was still alive. 

Such assertions as these have been confidently 
repeated, but have not been proved. 

This is the declaration of the Apostles. Not 
only the Writers of Holy Scripture are said by 
them to be moved by the Holy Ghost 4 , but the 
writing itself, every 5 part of the whole writing, is 
described by St. Paul as inspired by God. The 
Book is inspired, and therefore the Scriptures are 
called living oracles 6 , and are represented as 
speaking 7 , and as endued with foreknowledge 8 . 
The Spirit of God animates them. They are 
saturated and bathed with Divine Light. They 
are Light. Thy Word is a Lamp unto my feet, 
and a Light unto my paths 9 . 

2 Acts vi. 8—10. 

3 1 Thess. iv. 15. So Dr. Arnold and " Essays and Reviews," 
p. 346. 

4 2 Pet. i. 21. 

5 ndcra ypacpv (every Scripture is) Oeonpevcnos, divinely in- 
spired. 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

6 Acts vii. 38. 

7 Mark xv. 28. John xix. 37. Rom. iv. 3; ix. 17; xi. 2. 
Gal. iv. 30. 

8 Gal. iii. 8. 9 Ps. cxix. 105. 



admission that there are Errors in the Word 1 1 
of God. 

We know that the Bible is for all ; it is for the 
simplest peasant as well as for the wisest philo- 
sopher ; it is able to make all men wise unto salva- 
tion \ We cannot admit that the Bible is ble- 
mished with errors, and that it is left for the 
reader "to separate by his own skill " what is 
erroneous in it from what is true. We know 
that an unbeliever may justly challenge theolo- 
gians who make such an admission as that ; and 
that he may fairly encounter them with the 
following language 2 : " A book cannot be said to 
be inspired, or to carry with it the authority of 
being God's Word, if only portions come from 
Him, and there exists no plain and infallible sign 
to indicate which those portions are ; and if the 
same Writer may give us in one verse of the 
Bible a revelation from the Most Sigh, and in the 
next verse a blunder of his own. How can we be' 
certain, that the very texts, upon which we rest 
our doctrines and our hopes, are not the uninspired \ 
portion ? What can be the meaning or nature of 
an Inspiration to teach Truth, which does not 
guarantee its recipient from teaching error ? " 

4. In answer to such questions as these, we 
affirm that the Bible is the Word of God, and 
that it is not marred by human infirmities. We 
do not imagine with some that the Bible is like a 
Threshing-floor, on which wheat and chaff lie 

1 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

2 These words are quoted from a Volume entitled the " Creed 
of Christendom," published by a sceptical writer. 



12 Language of S. Augustine on this subject. 






mingled together, and that it is left for the readers 
of the Bible — simple peasants and yoimg children 
— to winnow and sift the wheat from the chaff by 
the fan and sieve of their own intellects. We do 
not suppose that the Bible is like a rude mass, 
having threads and spangles of precious metal, 
intertwisted and encrusted in a mineral bed, and 
that it is the duty of those who take the Bible 
into their hands to smelt the ore from the dross. 
But we believe the Bible to be pure gold. Every 
word of God is pure 3 . We adopt the words of one 
of the wisest divines, S. Augustine 4 , — " Such is 
the reverence I have learnt to pay to the Books of 
Holy Scripture, and to those Books alone, that I 
most firmly believe that none of those Writers has 
ever fallen into any error in writing ; and if I find 
any thing in Scripture which seems to me at vari- 
ance with the truth, I conclude that either my copy 
of the Bible is in fault, or that the translator has 



3 Prov. xxx. 5. Cp. Ps. xii. 6 ; cxix. 140. 

4 S. Augustine, Epist. ad Hieron. 82; cp. S.Irenceus iii. 1, and 
iii. 5, where he speaks of the Apostles as having perfect knowledge 
(perfectam agnitionem) and placed beyond the reach of all false- 
hood (extra omne mendacium), and so Origen (in Matth. torn. xvi. 
c. 12), " I believe that not a jot or a tittle of the Gospels is without 
divine instruction ; and that the Gospels were written with the co- 
operation of the Holy Ghost, aud that they who wrote them never 
fell into an error." See also his Comment on John vi. c. IS ; and 
Homil. in Num. xxvii. 1, where he says that in Holy Scripture 
there is ' nihil otiosum/ and (Homil. in Jerem. xxxix.), •'* there is 
nothing in Scripture which does not do its own proper work, it 
men know how to use it." 



Holy Scripture not blemished with Error. 13 

missed the sense, or that I have not rightly under- 
stood it °." 

5. Theologians who imagine that they can 
maintain the Inspiration of the Bible, and yet 
assert that the Bible is blemished by errors may 
be desired to consider, that if the Holy Ghost, 
Who inspired the Scriptures, had not intended to 
preserve their writers from error, He would not 
have employed such persons as He did in writing 
the Scriptures. He would not have chosen un- 
learned and ignorant men* ; but He would have 
chosen the wise of this world to write the Bible. 
He would not have chosen a Galileean fisherman, 
a hundred years old, for such St. John was, to 
write the evangelic record of the sublimest dis- 
courses of Jesus Christ. And if that Galilgean 
fisherman, and his brother Evangelists, being such 
as they were, had not been preserved from error 
by the Holy Ghost, according to Christ's promise, 
that the Comforter would teach them all things 
and guide them into all truth, and bring all things 
to their remembrance whatsoever He had said to 
them (John xiv. 26; xvi. 13), they must have 
fallen into countless errors, and manifest con- 
tradictions. But the Holy Spirit wisely made 
choice of feeble instruments, in order that by 'the 
weakness of the instruments, and by the perfec- 
tion of the work done by their means, it might be 

5 See also Soolcer's judgement on this subject in his Eccles. 
Polity, II. viii. 6. 

6 Acts iv. 13. 



li As men, the Writers of Holy Scripture were 
fallible in practice ; 

seen and acknowledged by all, that the excellency 
of the Gospel written by their hands is not of 
man, but of God 7 . 

6. But while we thus affirm, that the Bible — 
»• by which we mean the genuine text of the divine 
original — is free from error, we do not mean to 
assert that the persons, who were employed to 
write the Bible, as Moses, the Prophets, and 
Apostles, were not liable to err. As Writer*, they 
were guided in writing, and were preserved from 
error by the Spirit of Truth, Who inspired them; 
but, as men, they were fallible in practice. They 
confess this. We are men of like passions with 
you 8 . In many things we offend all 9 . The un- 
erring Word of God records the errors of the men, 
by whose instrumentality the Word of God was 
written. Moses relates his own sin for which he 
was excluded from Canaan: and the Scripture 
says that he spake unadvisedly with his lips 1 . 
David the Psalmist laments the sins of David the 
King 2 . St. Luke in the Acts relates that the 
Evangelist St. Mark faltered for a season, and 
that St. Paul strove with St. Barnabas concerning 
him 3 . The unerring language of the Holy Spirit, 
writing by St. Paul in Holy Scripture, relates 
that St. Peter erred and walked not uprightly 4 . 

7 2 Cor. iv. 7. Cp. JSuseb. Demonst. Evang. iii. 5. Hist. 
Eccl. iii. 24. 

8 Acts xiv. 15. 9 James iii. 2. 
1 Deut. xxxii. 51. Ps. cvi. 33. 2 p s . y u 

s Acts xx. 37—39. * Gal. ii. 11—14. 



But as Writers of Scripture they did not err lo 
in writing. 

We believe that St. Peter erred, because the Holy 
Spirit, who cannot err, asserts by St. Paul in 
Scripture that he did err 5 . But let us not con- 
found the Writers with the men. And let us dis- 
tinguish the Writings from the practice of those by 
whose hands they were written. Men they were, 
and being men, though holy men, they were liable 
to err. But the Writings which God the Holy 
Ghost dictated by their instrumentality, and which 
h&vebeen received&s Holy Scripture by the Christian 
Church Universal } which is the Body of Christ, the \ 
Pillar and Ground of truth, are exempt from error. 
And why ? Because in writing they had the gift 
of the Holy Ghost, who taught them all things and 
guided (hem into all truth. 6 And their words were 
not such as mail's wisdom teacheth, hut which the 
Holy Ghost teacheth ' ; and, as St. Peter says, they 
spake being moved by the Holy Ghost 8 ; and the 
Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth 9 , and every 
Scripture 1 , St. Paul declares, is given by inspiration ' 
of God. The workmen were human, but the work 
is divine. They had the treasure in earthen vessels 2 , 
but the treasure itself is not earthly, but heavenly. 
The Channels, through which the pure water of 
Holy Scripture flows, are like the aqueducts of 
brick stretching across the Eoman Campagna, 

5 This is clearly stated by S. Augustine in his correspondence 
with S. Jerome, Epist. xxviii. xl. and lxxxii. 

e John xiv. 26 ; xvi. 13. 7 1 Cor. ii. 13. 

s 2 Pet. i. 21. 9 John xiv. 17 ; xv. 26. 

1 Traora ypacp-f), every Scripture (2 Tim. iii. 16). 

2 2 Cor. iv. 7. 



16 Why the Writers of Scripture sometimes speak 
douhtingly. 

but the Water itself, which flows through them, 
is living water of salvation, streaming forth from 
the heavenly Hills, even from the pure well-spring 
of the Wisdom and Love of God. 

7. Here also we may advert to those who allege 
that the language of the Apostles is not from God, 
because they sometimes speak douhtingly. We 
cannot concur in that statement. And why ? 
Because Inspiration is not Omniscience; and doubt 
is not error. The Holy Spirit did not change 
the human writers into Divine beings. His aid 
was given to the Writers of Scripture according 
to the need. Sometimes it swelled the sails of 
their minds with a vehement gale; and at other 
times, when the oars of human toil, and the pilotage 
of human prudence, nearly sufficed for the purpose, 
would fan them only with a gentle breeze ; some- 
times it was almost lulled. He allowed the Evan- 
gelists to speak douhtingly in Scripture in some 
minor matters, where doubt was not hurtful; such 
as, for instance, in the capacity of the vessels of 
Cana 3 , or in the number of furlongs which the 
Apostles had rowed 4 . He allowed St. Paul to 
avow, that whether he was in the body or out of 
the body, when he was caught up into the third 
heaven, he could not tell 5 ; and to say that he knows 
not whether he baptized any besides those whom 
he mentions 6 ; and He permitted him to express, 

3 John ii. 6. 

4 John vi. 19. Cp. xi. 18. Acts iv. 4. Luke ix. 23. 

e 2 Cor. xii. 2. c 1 Cor. i. 16. 



Why the Writers of Scripture sometimes sj)eak 17 
doubtingly. 

doubts concerning the future 7 . He inspired them 
to inform us of their doubts in these cases, in order 
that, in those other more momentous and myste- 
rious matters, wherein they express no doubt, we 
may feel sure that they do not speak from them- 
selves, but from God. 

8. Again. Doubtless there is & perfect language 
in heaven. But we may not allow ourselves to for- 
get, that when God communicated the mysteries 
of Eevelation to the world, in the pages of Holy 
Scripture, He did not speak in the tongues of 
Angels, nor did He create any new language, but 
He used a language already in being, a language 
formed by the ordinary intercourse of man with 
man, a language spoken in senates and law-courts, 
and streets and market-places of the world. Writ- 
ing to men He used the language of men. The 
medium by which He revealed the mysteries of 
the Gospel, was ancient and human, but what He 
revealed thereby was new and Divine. 

It is with Scripture as with Christ's Tribute- 
money 8 . The metallic ore, of which that money 
was made, was from God, it was dug up in the 
mine; and Christ by His miraculous power brought 
up the sum paid, from the depths of the sea : but 
the Coin itself, in which the sum was paid, had 
been struck in Caesar's mint. So the substance oi 
Scripture-Doctrine is from God. Its mysteries 

7 Eora. xv. 24. 1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6. 2 Cor. i. 15-17. Phil. ii. 
19. 1 Tim. iii. 14. 

8 Matt. xvii. 24—27. 



18 The Language of Scripture is human, but is used 
under divine guidance. 

are brought up from the abysses of Diviue Wis- 
dom. The words in which they are revealed, are 
words employed by God, through the ministry of 
inspired men. But the language, of which those 
words form a part, was framed by man; it was 
struck in a human mint; and like every thing 
made by the hand of man, that language was 
not free from imperfection : though doubtless the 
words, when used by men under the guidance of 
God, serve perfectly all the purposes, which God, 
in using them, intended them to serve. Almighty 
God did not destroy the writers' identity, He 
did not annul their free-will, but He used the 
writers aright. He did not create a new lan- 
guage, but He used the old with Divine Wisdom 
and Truth. 

9. One more prefatory observation may be made 
here. 

It is sometimes alleged, that since the collation 
of the different Manuscripts of the Old and New 
Testament has brought to light an immense mul- 
titude of Various Readings, amounting to some 
hundreds of thousands, therefore, in this diversity 
of authorities, even if an inspired Text, and fault- 
less Original, did exist any where, it would be 
impossible for us to find it out. 

As to this objection from the multitude of 
Various Readings, this is not an evidence of 
uncertainty in the Sacred Text, but it is rather a 
proof of its certainty. The words of the original 
Scripture have been transcribed by human copy- 



Various Readings in the copies of Scripture no 19 
evidence of uncertainty. 

ists, and though it is certain that no single copy, 
now existing, either of the Old or New Testament 
in their original tongues, exhibits precisely ver- 
batim et literatim what was written by the Pro- 
phets and Apostles, yet it is also certain that, by 
collation of the copies which have been preserved, 
we have the Text of the Holy Scriptures in such 
a form, as may be depended on for all that we 
require, and that, in receiving that Text, we receive 
the Oracles of God. 

For, let us consider ; Whence does this multi- 
tude of Various Readings arise ? From the multi- 
tude of copies. And this multitude of copies is the 
very thing which secures and proves the integrity 
of the Text. If we had only a few copies, there 
would be few Various Readings ; and if there 
was only one copy, there would be no Various 
Readings at all. But then we should only have 
one witness to depend upon. But now we have 
many thousand witnesses, and since these wit- 
nesses do vary in some very slight, trivial, and 
insignificant matters, such as the omission of a 
word, or its transposition, or in a particle or con- 
junction, we see that there is no collusion, no 
conspiracy among the witnesses. And since they 
agree in all substantial respects, we are sure that 
their witness is true, and that the Text, obtained 
by their aid, is correct ; that it is a faithful repre- 
sentation for all needful purposes, of the Words 
dictated to the Prophets, Apostles, and Evangel- 
ists, by the Holy Spirit of God, 
c 2 



20 What is the true ground for belief in the 

Inspiration of the Bible ? 

III. Let us now proceed to suppose that an 
unbeliever were to address us, and ask for a reason 
of the hope that is in us, when we assert our belief 
that the Bible is the Word of God. 

What answer should we give to that question ? 

If that belief is sound, there must be a reason 
for it. And since the Bible is for all — for the 
poor as well as rich, for the simple as well as the 
learned — and all are bound to believe its doc- 
trines and obey its precepts, it is clear that the 
answer to be given to this question ought to be 
of such a kind, that all, however unlearned, may- 
be able to give it, and that all to whom it is given 
ought to be satisfied with it. 

Suppose therefore that an unbeliever were to 
ask you this question. " On what grounds do you 
believe the Bible to be the Word of God V 3 

1. Some persons have said, in reply to this 
inquiry, that they themselves have an inward spi- 
ritual illumination, by which they are enabled to 
discern the Bible to be God's Word. The Spirit 
in their hearts, they affirm, bears witness to the 
Spirit in the Bible, and assures them that it is His 
Word. 

We do not deny the force of this answer in due 
measure and degree. But is it adequate ? Is it 
satisfactory ? 

Doubtless every devout person will feel, in read- 
ing the Bible, that he is reading no common 
book ; he will feel his heart burn within him 
(Luke xxiv. 32), with holy love and joy, when he 



Erroneous ground upon icliich some build their 21 
belief in the Inspiration of the Bible. 

listens to its words, and when he observes the 
harmony of the various parts of the Bible, and its 
adaptation to the needs of our nature, and the 
fulfilment of its prophecies ; and when he reflects 
on the moral and social benefits conferred by the 
Bible on the world ; and when he meditates on 
the wonderful dispensations of God's providence 
in protecting and preserving the Bible 9 . Every 
one who is enlightened with divine grace will feel 
a strong persuasion that it is the Word of God. 

2. But such considerations as these, important 
as they are, would not suffice to convince an uiu 
believer that the Bible is the Word of God. We 
need some other aid. It cannot be truly said 
by any man, that, if portions of the Bible were 
interspersed with portions of an uninspired book, 
— such as the Book of Ecclesiasticus or of Wisdom, 
— and if, being thus blended together, they were 
placed before him, he could, by his own internal 
consciousness, discern and separate what is inspired 
from what is uninspired 1 . 

9 This is enlarged upon below, Lecture T. 

1 Hooker says well on this point (Eccl. Pol. III. viii. 15) : — "I 
doubt not but men of wisdom and judgment will grant, that the 
Church, in this point especially (the Inspiration of Holy Scripture), 
is furnished with reason, to stop the mouths of her impious adver- 
saries ; and that as it were altogether bootless to allege against 
them what the Spirit had taught us, so likewise that even to our 
own selves it needeth caution and explication how the testimony of 
the Spirit may be discerned, by what means it may be known; lest 
men think that the Spirit of God doth testify those things which 
the spirit of error suggesteth." 

And Bishop Burnet (on the Vlth Article) judiciously observes ; 



22 Private Consciousness no safe ground for belief 
in the Inspiration of the Bible. 

We do well to believe the Inspiration of the 
Bible. But let those who would build their belief 
upon their own feelings, in this momentous matter, 
be entreated to consider, whether they may not 
be building on the sand, and whether they do not 
need more solid arguments to persuade others. 
Strong reasons are requisite to convince the 
unbeliever that the whole Bible is the Word of God : 
he will not be satisfied with assertions, he will re- 
quire proofs. Our perceptions are no rule for him. 
He will not ask for emotions, but evidences ; he 
will require, not feelings, but facts. He may say 
fco us, " You feel that the Bible is inspired, but I 
have no such feeling ; and why should J be guided 
by your feelings in receiving the Bible, rather than 
you be swayed by my feelings in rejecting it ? 
Besides, if I am to be influenced by men^s feelings, 
I should have as many different Bibles as there 
are different Religions. The Brahmin will tell 
me that he feels a divine spirit speaking to him 

In proof of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture "I will not urge that 
of the testimony of the Spirit, which many have had recourse to : 
this is only an argument to him that feels it, if it is one at all; 
and therefore it proves nothing to another person ; besides, the 
utmost that with reason can be made of this is, that a good man 
feeling the very powerful effects of the Christian religion on his 
own heart, -in the reforming his nature, and the calming his con- 
science, together with those comforts that arise out of it, is con- 
vinced in general of the whole of Christianity, by the happy effects 
that it has upon his own mind ; but it does not from this appear, 
how he should know that such looks and such passages in them 
should come from a Divine original, or that he should be able to 
distinguish tvhat is genuine in them from what is spurious." 



Origin and disastrous result of that Theory. 23 

in the Vedas ; the Mahometan thinks that he 
hears a divine voice in the Koran ; the Jew, who 
recognizes a divine presence in the Old Testament, 
denies its existence in the New. And even among 
Christians, some 2 receive the Apocryphal Books, 
such as the Books of Judith andTobit, as divinely 
inspired, while others a do not own them as such. 
If personal feelings and opinions, apart from 
logical proofs, are to determine the matter, every 
form of Religion may have a separate Bible, and 
there can be no common standard, no uniform 
Rule of Faith and Practice for all." 

3. Consider, also, to what disastrous results this 
reference to private feelings and opinions in the 
question of Inspiration, has already led. 

That theory was put forth by some pious men 
at the Reformation in the sixteenth century. To 
cite one of the greatest names of that time — 
Martin Luther said that he himself could not 
reconcile the doctrine of St. James with that of 
St. Paul, on the subject of Justification, and that 
therefore, inasmuch as he accepted the doctrine 
of St. Paul, he must reject the Epistle of St. 
James, which he called l ' an Epistle of straw." In 
a similar temper he rejected the Book of Revela- 
tion of St. John the Divine. He did not feel their 
Inspiration; they were not congenial to his 
opinions ; they did not approve themselves to his 
mind. The Apostle St. Paul was inspired, because 

2 Members of the Church of Rome. Concil. Trident. Sess. iv. 
s The Church of England, Art. VI. 



24 Calamitous consequences of that Theory. 

Martin Luther felt his inspiration ! But the 
Apostles St. James and St. John were to wait for 
an allowance of their Inspiration till the feelings 
of Martin Luther should change ! There is reason 
to believe that Luther lived long enough to rue 
this rash and reckless presumption 4 . But this 
example of arbitrary wilfulness, in dealing with 
Holy Scripture, did great mischief. Other Re- 
formers, and even entire Eeformed Churches 5 , — 
happily not the Church of England 6 , — grounded 
their recognition of Holy Scripture, and their 
belief in its Inspiration, upon the foundation alone 
of what they called the internal witness of the 
Spirit in themselves. They resolved their belief 
into a mere private intuition, and personal assur- 
ance in their own hearts. They made themselves 
the judges of God's Word. 

Here was the root of the evil which has now 
grown up into a tree and overshadows Europe 
with darkness, and blights the vegetation beneath 
it, and yields deadly fruit ; as may be seen in 
" Essays and Reviews," and (I deeply regret to add) 
in Bishop Colenso's and Dean Stanley's writings 
on the Old Testament. They who rested their 
belief in the Bible on such a basis as that, were 
unable to defend the Bible against those who 
assailed it. Their belief in the Bible was true, 
but it rested on false grounds. It was built on 

4 See Gerhardi Loci Theol. Appendix de Scr. Sacra, § 279 and 
§ 299. 5 Coofessio Belgica v. Confessio Gallicana iv. 

6 See below, Lecture IV. 



Sceptical development of the Theory of private 25 
consciousness. 

the shifting quicksand of private opinion. As 
ong as men agreed in feeling that inner Con- 
sciousness which led them to acknowledge the 
Truth and Inspiration of the Bible, so long the 
unsoundness of the foundation did not manifestly 
appear. But they were dwelling in a tottering 
house ; and ere long- the storm came, and the 
house fell. Persons arose after them, who 
appealed to their own Consciousness, as a suffi- 
cient reason for rejecting portions of the Bible. 
And they who had received the Bible on the assur- 
ance of their own supposed inner illumination, 
were unable to give any reply to those who 
rejected it on similar grounds. The inner Con- 
sciousness of the one party was set against the 
inner Consciousness of the other party. . . . And 
who could arbitrate between them? 

4. Thus in looking back to the history of 
Christendom, we see that the erroneous principle 
which was adopted by some pious men, in support 
of the Bible, three centuries ago, has now been 
applied by others to destroy the Bible. 

Some recently published Volumes, contravening 
the truth and inspiration of Scripture, which have 
startled the religious mind of the English Public, 
are only the natural fruit of the waywardness of 
private opinion developed in a sceptical direction. 
They have brought to the surface what has long 
been lurking beneath it. But if we are not want- 
ing to ourselves, great good may be the result. 

Relying on what they call " the verifying 



26 Injurious effects of that Theory on the moral 
influence of the Bible, 

faculty " in their own minds, some impugn , the 
veracity and genuineness of the Pentateuch, be- 
cause they think that its records are inconsistent 
with the results of scientific research, or because 
they suppose its language to be posterior to the 
age of Moses. Some reject the Book of Daniel, 
because they imagine that its Prophecies were 
subsequent to the events which it professes to 
predict. Others will not receive the second 
Epistle of St. Peter, because the style of that 
Epistle differs from the First, and because they 
think that both those Epistles could not have been 
written by the same Author. 7 In short, there is 
scarcely a single book in the Bible, which has not 
now been called into question by men who are 
swayed by their own feelings, and biassed by their 
own private opinions. "The nature of the In- 
spiration of Scripture," they say, " can only be 
shown from the examination of Scripture *," and 
whatever they find in the Bible congenial to them- 
selves, whatever harmonizes with their own senti- 
ments, that they believe to be inspired, and that 
alone. Thus the divinity of the Bible is made 
to depend on the fickleness of human caprice; 



"> See ZTavernic7c' s Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 1836 — 
1849, and Gueri/ce's Einleitung in das N. T., 1843. 

8 " Essays and Reviews," p. 347. And again, " to the ques- 
tion, 'What is inspiration ?' the first answer is, ' The idea which 
we. gather from the study of it/ This is reconcileahle with varia- 
tions in fact in the Gospels . . . with inaccuracies of language in 
the Epistles of St. Paul." 



and on its right Interpretation. 27 

and "unless God pleases man He is to be no 
longer God 9 ." 

The Genuineness and Inspiration of the Bible 
as a whole being thus made matter of doubt, the 
Bible itself is to be no longer the standard of 
Faith and Practice, but the varying consciousness 
of the individual is to be substituted in the place 
of God's Holy Word. 

There can be no uniform standard of Interpreta- 
tion, upon such principles as these. The Bible 
becomes like a "leaden rule/' which men may 
bend aside according to their own will l . And 
thus they fall under St. Peter's censure, who says 
that they that are unlearned and unstable wrest the 
(Scriptures to their own destruction 2 . 

IV. This condition of things is fraught with 
warning and instruction. It teaches us that it is not 
enough to believe the truth, but that it is necessary 
to believe it on right grounds. If Belief is made 
to rest on a wrong foundation, it must give rise to 
Unbelief. It is not enough to believe that the 
Bible is God's written Word, but it is necessary 
to be able to convince others that this proposition 
is true. It is necessary (as St. Peter affirms) to 



9 Nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit. — Tertullian, Apol. 
c.5. 

1 Or, in the language of Dryden, 

" Their airy faith will no foundation find; 
. The Word's a iveathercock to every wind." 

2 2 Pet. iii. 16. 



28 Present religious crisis in England. 

be always ready to give to every man that asketh 
us a reason of the hope that is in us. 

Let us examine ourselves, whether we are able 
to do this. Let those who have hitherto built 
their belief on the basis of private feelings and 
opinions, be earnestly entreated to contemplate 
the superstructure of error, which has now risen up 
upon that basis. Let them be desired to recon- 
sider their principles. The prevalence of Infi- 
delity among us, the avowal of strange doctrines 
concerning the Inspiration of the Bible, which is 
the groundwork of all our hopes, imperatively 
demand this at our hands. 

England is now on her trial. Now is the crisis of 
her religious life. If she has strength to eject the 
poison which has been infused into her, she may 
become more vigorous than before. But if not, 
that poison will curdle in her veins, and her system 
will be diseased, and a moral mortification will 
ensue ; and England will be in a few years, what 
some other Nations of Europe now are. 

Let us consider calmly the signs of the times ; 
let us endeavour, by God's grace, to maintain the 
truth ; let us charitably and wisely labour to over- 
come evil with good. Then we may be sure, that 
the dangers, by which the Faith is now assailed, 
will be occasions of new victories. Our difficulties 
are God's opportunities. Our midnight is His 
noon. Our trials may be our triumphs. They 
may conduce to heal our unhappy differences and 
dissensions, and to unite us all in the truth. 



Hopes for the future. 29 

If the Bible is the unerring word of the Ever- 
living God; if, as we believe, it is the Rule of Faith 
and Practice ; if it is the Charter of our social 
and national privileges upon earth, and of our 
everlasting citizenship in heaven; if it is the Code, 
by which we shall be judged at the Great Day ; 
then we may be sure, that all attacks upon it will 
one day recoil upon those who make them, like 
the foam and spray dashed from the firm-set rock. 

The violence of the storm will prove the strength 
of the fortress, and will confirm our belief in its 
impregnability, and in the faithfulness and power 
of Him, whose Divine Eye is ever upon it, and 
who shields it with the defence of His own 
Almighty protection. And thus, though the sea 
around us is tempestuous, and though the waters 
thereof rage and swell, yet in His own appointed 
time the rivers of the flood thereof mill make glad 
the city of God 3 . 

What is the true foundation on which the belief 
of the Inspiration of Holy Scripture is to be built ? 
and what are the reasons by which we may hope 
to convince others, that the Bible, the whole Bible, 
and nothing but the Bible, is the written Word of 
God? 

These questions will be considered in the fol- 
lowing lectures. Let me entreat your prayers 
for God's help in this work, for His honour and 
glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

3 Ps. xlvi. 2, 3. 



LECTURE II. 



Eomans iii. 1, 2. 

What advantage then hath the Jew ? Much every way : chiefly, 
because that unto them were committed the Oracles of God. 

I. 1. In the last lecture we entered on the 
inquiry, 

"By what reasons are we persuaded, and by 
what arguments would we persuade others, that 
the Bible is the Word of God?" 

It was then observed, that some persons have 
replied to this question by saying, that they have 
an inward illumination, by which they are enabled 
to distinguish the Bible from all other books; 
and they rest their belief in the Inspiration of the 
Bible upon this private assurance. 

But, as was then remarked, this assurance on 
their part cannot exercise any influence on others. 
Our belief in the Inspiration of the Bible can- 
not induce an unbeliever to receive it as God's 
Word. 

It has also been already shown, that this appeal 



Recapitulation, 3 1 

to private feelings and opinions, as the ground- 
work of belief in the Bible, has led to unhappy 
results. If we refer to our own feelings and 
opinions as an adequate proof of its Inspira- 
tion, we must not be surprised to find that other 
persons refer to their feelings and opinions, in 
disproof of it. 

2. It is hardly necessary to say, that we cannot 
prove from Scripture itself alone, that Scripture 
is God's Word. The Holy Spirit says by St. Paul, 
that all Scripture is given by Inspiration of God 1 . 
But it must first be proved by arguments external 
to Scripture, as well as by internal evidence deriv- 
able from Scripture, that St. Paul himself, when 
he wrote these words, wrote under the Inspiration 
of God 2 . 

II. Let us now open the Old Testament, and 
let us proceed to enquire on what grounds are we 
convinced, and by what proofs would we en- 
deavour to persuade others, that the Old Testa* 
ment is the Word of God ? 

i 2 Tim. iii. 16. 

2 See Hooker. I. xiv. 1. " Of tLings necessary, the very chiefest 
is to know what books we are bound to esteem holy ; which point 
is confessed impossible for Scripture itself to teach." And again, 
II. iv. 2, " It is not the Word of God which doth or possibly can 
assure us that we do well to think that is His Word ; for if any one 
Book of Scripture did give testimony to all, yet still that Scripture 
would require another to give credit to it; nor could we ever come 
to any pause to rest our assurance this way ; so that unless beside 
Scripture there were something that might assure us that we do 
well, we could not think we do well, no not in being assured that 
Scripture is a sacred and holy rule of well-doiug." 



32 What are the true grounds for belief in the 

Inspiration of the Old Testament ? 

1. First, we would reply, we receive the Old 
Testament as inspired, on the testimony of God, 
declared in the consent and practice of the Jewish 
Nation, to which "were delivered 3 the Oracles of 
God." The Ancient Jewish Church was the 
divinely constituted Recipient and Guardian of 
the Old Testament. Its testimony on this matter 
is the testimony of God. 

2. Secondly, we receive the Old Testament as 
inspired, on the testimony of the Son of God, our 
Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Cheist. 

3. Thirdly, we receive the Old Testament as in- 
spired, on the testimony of God the Holt Ghost, 
testifying to its truth and inspiration, by the 
mouth of the Holy Apostles, and by the consent 
of the Christian Church, to which our Blessed 
Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit "to teach 
her all things" and to "guide her into all truth, 
and to abide with her for ever*." 

First, then, we receive the Old Testament as 
inspired, on the testimony of Almighty God, de- 
clared by the Jewish Nation. 

III. Here we must begin by showing that the 
Old Testament, as it now exists in our age, is the 

3 St. Paul's words are iirKTrevO^cravra Xoyia, a stronger phrase 
than that in our English Version. "They were entrusted with 
the oracles of God." The Jews were the Trustees and Guardians 
of the Old Testament; and our Lord and His Apostles acknow- 
ledged that they were faithful to their trust, in guarding it from 
alteration. 4 John xvi. 7. 13 ; xiv. 26. 



Integrity of the Text of the Old Testament, 33 
how secured, and proved. 

same as the Old Testament in the first century of 
the Christian era : in other words, we must prove 
its integrity, or identity. 

Its identity may be proved from the fact, that 
the Old Testament has heen publicly read both in 
Jewish Synagogues 5 , and in Christian Churches 6 , 
throughout the world, every week, from the first 
century after Christ to the present day. 

The multiplication of copies of the Old Tes- 
tament, for the purposes of this weekly public 
Eeading in the Jewish Synagogues on the Jewish 
Sabbath, and in Christian Churches on the Lord's 
Day, and this public Reading itself, have served 
as providential guarantees for the preservation of 
the Old Testament. 

Even if any of the Jews had ever desired to 
tamper with the Text of the Old Testament, they 
would have been prevented from effecting such a 
purpose by the diffusion of copies of the Old Tes- 
tament — in the original Hebrew and m Translations 
of it — such as the Chaldee, Syriac, and the Sep- 
tuagint or Greek Version, and the Ancient Latin 
Versions, and others 7 . Even if all the Jewish Syna- 
gogues had conspired together to alter the Text 
of the Old Testament, which is a thing incredible, 

5 See on Acts xiii. 15 ; xv. 21. Josephus c. Apion. ii. p. 1072, 
and the authorities in Vitringa's treatise De Synagoga Vetere, lib. 
iii. pt. ii. c. 8, p. 961, ed. Franck. 1696. 

6 See the authorities in Bingham's Antiquities, book xh\ 
cli. iii. 

' Sec 8. Augustine's observation on this point, De Civitate Dei, 
xv. c. 13. 

D 



34 Integrity of the Text of the Old Testament, 
how secured, and proved. 

they would have been hindered and checked from 
doing* so by the counteracting" vigilance of Chris- 
tian Churches, guarding the Old Testament, and 
publicly reading the Old Testament in all parts 
of the civilized world. 

And if, on the other side, any Christian Churches 
had ever attempted to make any change in the 
Old Testament, such an attempt would have been 
exposed and frustrated by the Jews. 

Thus we see, that under God's providential care 
for the Old Testament, even the enmity of Jews 
and Christians has been overruled for good; it 
has been made instrumental in the preservation 
of His Holy Word, and in assuring the world of 
its integrity. 

A Poet of old, speaking of a ship in a stormy 
night, says, "that in such a time it is good to 
have two Anchors cast out of the vessel/' one 
anchor from the prow, the other at the stern, in 
order that it may ride safely in the storm 8 . In 
the tempests of the long night of many centuries, 
the sacred vessel of Holy Scripture has been 
moored securely on the two Anchors of the Jewish 
Synagogue and of the Christian Church. 

It is certain that the Old Testament, as it is now 
in the hands of the Jews dispersed every where, 
coincides with the Old Testament in the hands of 
the Christian Churches diffused throughout the 
world. 

This coincidence is a proof, that the Old Testa- 

s Pindar, Olyuip. vi. 172. 



With what reverence the Jews in our Lord's age 35 
regarded the Old Testament ? 

ment, which we have in our hands at this day, is 
the same as the Old Testament in the first century 
of the Christian era. 

IV. Let us, therefore, now ascend in our 
thoughts to the first century of the Christian era, 
and imagine ourselves living then; and suppose 
the case of pious Israelites, such, for example, as 
an aged Simeon or a guileless Nathanael at that 
time. 

By what arguments would the religious Jews 
of that age have been persuaded, and by what 
evidence would they have sought to persuade 
others, that the Old Testament which they had, 
is inspired by God ? 

1, Doubtless the first motive which impelled 
the devout Israelite to acknowledge the Old Tes- 
tament as divine, was the fact that he saw it set 
apart from all other Books by the universal con- 
sent and uniform practice of his own Nation, to 
which God had vouchsafed wonderful marks of 
His favour and blessing. 

He saw the Books of the Old Testament treated 
with pious reverence by the whole Hebrew people. 
He beheld those Books treasured up with devout 
care in the Synagogues, and brought forth, Sab- 
bath after Sabbath, from the sacred chest in those 
Synagogues ; he saw those Volumes unveiled and 
unrolled with holy veneration; and before and 
after the reading of those Writings, he heard the 
accents of blessing and praise addressed to God 
for the gift of those sacred Writings, and ho 
d 2 



36 Josephus. 

listened to their words recited with scrupulous 
care, and venerated with religious awe 9 . 

Every Jew, from his infancy, was thus im- 
pressed with a belief in the Truth and Inspiration 
of the Old Testament. 

2. The feelings with which the pious Israelite 
regarded the Old Testament are thus described by 
a Writer living in the Apostolic age, who was 
eminently qualified to bear witness on this subject. 
That person is Josephus, the Jewish Historian, 
one of the most learned Authors of that time, a 
Pharisee, and of a priestly family, and descended 
from the Asmonean Princes. He speaks of the 
Old Testament as follows : l "We have not a mul- 
titude of books at variance with one another," as 
the Heathen have, " but we have only Twenty-two 
Books:" (such was the reckoning of the Jews, by 
whom several Books of the Old Testament were 
counted as one; for instance, the Twelve Minor 
Prophets were reckoned by them as one Book 2 , 
and so, on the whole, their Twenty-two Books, 
beginning with Genesis and ending with Malachi, 
correspond to our Books of the Old Testament.) 
1 ' We have only Twenty-two Books, which contain 

? The Jewish authorities, describing the forms and ceremonies 
used in the Synagogues, at the reading of the Old Testament, may- 
be seen in the Treatise of Yitringa, De Synagoga Vetere, lib. iii. 
pt. ii. cap. 8, pp. 961 — 975. See also the account of the reading 
of the Old Testament in the Synagogues, in Dean Prideaux's 
Connexion, part i. book vi. on B.C. 445 — 433. 

1 Josephus c. Apion. i. § 8. 

2 See Up. Cosin on the Canon of Scripture, chap. ii. 



On what grounds did that reverence rest ? 37 

the record of all time, and are the Books which 
are rightly believed to be divine. Five of these 
are the Books of Moses, which comprise our Laws, 
and the history of the human race until the death 
of Moses." 

Josephus then proceeds to describe the other 
Books of the Old Testament; and sums up his 
account with these memorable words; — " We show 
by our practice, what our belief is as to these 
Books. For, although so long a time has elapsed 
since they were written, yet no one has ever ven- 
tured to make any addition to them, or to take 
any thing from them, or to make any change in 
them. And it is a principle innate in every Jew, 
to regard these Books as Oracles of God, and to 
cleave to them ; yea, and to die gladly for them. 33 

Such, then, was the judgment of the Jewish 
Nation concerning the Old Testament. 

V. On what proofs did this judgment rest ? 
How was the Jewish Nation convinced that the 
Old Testament in its hands was genuine and had 
not been tampered with and adulterated ? 

How was it persuaded that it is true ? 

How was it satisfied that it is inspired by God? 

1. First, (as was before observed) the Diffusion 
of those Books into all parts of the world, and 
the weekly public Heading of them for many 
centuries in Synagogues before the Christian era, 
had secured their identity. The Translation also 
of those Books into the Greek language 3 , and the 

3 See Josephus, Antiquities xii. 2. 4 — 15. 



38 Integrity of the Old Testament, how secured. 

multiplication of copies in that language was 
another safeguard which preserved them from 
being altered or tampered with. The formation 
of Chaldee Paraphrases of the Old Testament 
served also for a similar purpose. 

2. Even the greatest national afflictions of the 
Hebrew People had been made by Grod to subserve 
His gracious purposes in guarding, preserving, and 
disseminating His own Word, and in assuring the 
world of its Integrity. 

In the age of King Rehoboam, the son of Solo- 
mon, Ten Tribes of Israel had revolted from the 
House of Judah 4 , and they always remained sepa- 
rate from the Two Tribes of Judah and Benjamin. 
Israel and Judah were split asunder, and formed 
two rival kingdoms. This was a great calamity, 
but G od educed good from it : the one Kingdom 
acted as a check on the other in the custody of 
the Bible. Though these kingdoms were opposed, 
to each other in other respects, yet they agreed 
in receiving the same Bible. Thus under God 
they co-operated in the guardianship of His Word. 

If King Jeroboam and his successors on the 
Throne of Israel, and the Ten Tribes who were 
subject to them, had been able to convict the Two 
Tribes of making any alteration in the Old Testa- 
ment they would not have failed to do so. The 
Kings of Israel, after its defection from Judah, 
set up rival objects of worship at Dan and Beer- 
sheba; and they would have drawn off more 
4 1 Kings xii. 16—19. 



Integrity oj the Old Testament, how secured. 39 

worshippers from Jerusalem to their own altars, 
and have strengthened their own secular power, 
if they could have alleged with truth that the Two 
Tribes had been faithless to their trust, and had 
tampered with the Word of God. And if, on their 
side, the Ten Tribes had made any change in the 
text of the Old Testament, the Two Tribes would 
have raised their protest against such alteration. 

The fact however is, that the Ten Tribes and 
the Two Tribes, though severed from each other 
by many religious jealousies, and political anti- 
pathies, had one and the same Bible. Though 
Ephraim envied Judah, and Judah vexed Ephraim 5 , 
yet Ephraim and Judah agreed in receiving and 
revering the same Scriptures. And though in 
course of time the Ten Tribes were carried away 
captive 6 beyond the Euphrates, and were scattered 
abroad in Media and Persia, and also in Asia and 
Egypt ; and though afterwards the Two Tribes 
also were taken away 7 from their own home to 
Babylon and to other cities of the East, yet all 
the Twelve Tribes, wherever dispersed throughout 
the world, were united as one man in the reading 
of the same Scriptures ; and they have maintained 
that union inviolate even to this hour 8 . 

5 Isa. xi. 13. 6 2 Kings xvii. 6. 

7 2 Kings xxiv. 10; xxv. 11. 20. 

8 The case of the Samaritan Pentateuch affords no exception to 
this statement. The Samaritans were foreigners (see Luke xvii. 
18, and cp. Hengstenberg, Die Authentic des Pentateuches, p. 4), 
and not Israelites. And the general agreement of the Samaritan 
Pentateuch with the Hebrew affords a testimony to the 






40 Truth of the Old Testament, how proved. 

3. This universal reception and public reading of 
the Old Testament by the Jewish Nation is also a 
proof of its historical Truth. 

Consider the contents of the Old Testament. 
Open the Bible. Examine the Pentateuch, or five 
Books of Moses. They do not give a flattering 
representation of the Hebrew Nation. On the 
contrary, they exhibit it in a very unfavourable 
light. They display the Israelites as rebelling 
against God immediately after they had been 
rescued from Egypt, and when He was doing 
mighty works in their behalf, and showering down 
favours upon them. If as some allege, the Author 
of the Pentateuch had endeavoured to palm upon 
the Hebrew Nation a fictitious account of mercies 
that had never been vouchsafed to their fore- 
fathers, and of miracles that had never been 
wrought, he would have endeavoured to ingratiate 
himself with the Nation, by giving a favourable 
picture of the piety and virtue of their ancestors. 
He would have said that all the People were so 
astounded by the stupendous majesty of the 
miracles, and were so affected by the gracious 



integrity of the latter. See Bp. Walton, Prolegomena, cap xi., 
and Dr. Bentley on Ereethinking, Remark xxvii. Dr. Mc Caul's 
Examination of Bp. Colenso, p. 160. The allegation that there are 
interpolations in the Pentateuch, which axe later than the age of 
Moses, is carefully examined by Haverniek, § 134, pp. 541 — 9 
of the original work, or pp 361, 362 of the English Translation, 
1850. Cp. Hengstenberg, Die Authentic des Pentateuches, vol. ii. 
pp. 179-333. 



Internal proof of the truth of the Old Testament. 41 

beneficence of the mercies, that they were riveted 
by them in unswerving obedience. 

But no ; Moses displays to us the Hebrew Na- 
tion as falling into idolatry in the wilderness, after 
their deliverance from their enemies, and when 
God was about to give them the Law from Mount 
Sinai 9 . He exhibits them rebelling against God 
at the very time when He was feeding them with 
bread from heaven, and giving them water from 
the rock l , and leading them with a pillar of fire 2 . 
At the close of the forty years' sojourn in the 
wilderness, just before his death, his testimony of 
them is, Tlwu art a stiff-necked People. Ye have 
been rebellious against the Lord, from the day that 
I knew you 3 . The Pentateuch is a censure upon 
Israel, it is a condemnation of the Hebrew Nation 
for its idolatry and rebellion against God. 

Can any man seriously imagine that such a 
history as this would have been accepted by the 
Hebrews as divine, if it had not been true ? 

The Books of Moses also relate, that on account 
of their sins, all the Israelites that came out of 
Egypt, with the exception of two, were excluded 
from the Land of Promise *. Thus the Author 
frankly confesses the insufficiency of his own 
guidance and government to bring them into that 
Land, and implies a failure on his part. 

9 Exod. xxxii. * Exod. xvi. 2 ; and xvii. 2. 

2 Exod. xiv. 20. 

3 Dent. ix. 6, 7. 24. May I be allowed to refer to ray notes on 
this Chapter, which is very important in this light. 

4 Dent. i. 35, 36. 38. 



42 Divine Origin of the Pentateuch, how avouched. 

He also records his own sin, and his consequent 
exclusion from Canaan 5 . He relates likewise 
the sin of his brother Aaron 6 in making the 
golden calf ; and the sin of his sister Miriam 7 in 
murmuring against himself; and the sin of his 
bro ther's sons Nadab and Abihu 8 , for which they 
were destroyed by God ; and the sin of some of 
his own Tribe, Korah and his company, for which 
they were consumed by fire 9 . 

Men are prone to speak well of themselves, and 
to eulogize their own nation. No man is eager 
to propagate calumnies and perpetuate slanders 
against himself and his own family, and the 
people committed to his rule. Nations are wont 
to dress up their own History in terms flattering 
to themselves. No Nation in the world has ever 
adopted libels on itself, and publicly recited them 
as true, and has venerated them as oracles of God. 
If the Books of Moses are not true, the Author 
of them would have been condemned by the Jews 
as an impostor and a slanderer of the Nation, and 
as a blasphemer of God, and his books would 
have been consigned by them to perpetual in- 
famy. 

But the Hebrew People has accepted the Penta- 
teuch as its own History written by inspiration of 
God. It has publicly read it as such ever since it 
was written. The great National yearly Festivals 

5 Numb. xx. 12. 6 Exod. xxxii. 

7 Numb. xii. 1. 8 Levit. x. 1. 

6 Numb. xvi. 



Divine Origin of the Pentateuch, how avouched. 43 

to which the Jews resorted from all parts of the' 
world, were standing monuments of the historical V 
veracity of the Pentateuch. The Passover, Pen- ' 
tecost, and Tabernacles, at which the Pentateuch 
was publicly read in the ears of all the people 
every seventh year *, commemorated the wonderful 
facts, recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch, and 
bore witness to its truth. 

Therefore we may justly conclude that the Pen- 
tateuch is historically true. 

4. The Israelite, being thus convinced of the 
Integrity and Truth of the Pentateuch, would 
next proceed to consider the proof of its Inspi- 
ration. 

In that true History he saw his own Nation set 
apart by God, from ancient days, as a peculiar 
People. He knew from that History that the 
Tabernacle 2 in the wilderness had been fenced off 
by God from other places. He knew that in that 
Tabernacle there was a place distinguished from 
the rest, and called the "Holy of Holies" He 
knew that in the mysterious darkness of that 
Holy of Holies, separated by the Veil, which hung 
before it, was the Ark ; and, above the Ark, the . 
Mercy Seat ; and on the Mercy Seat the Cheru- 
bim, stretching their wings over it ; and that this 
Mercy Seat was the Dwelling-place of God. 

5. Observe now the visible and practical testi- 
mony thus afforded by God Himself to the Inspi- 
ration of the Old Testament. 

i Deut. xxxi. 10. 2 Exod. xxv. 8—22 ; xxvi. 33. 



44 Original of the Pentateuch preserved in the Holy 
of Holies. 

As soon as the Pentateuch was written, He 
commanded Moses that it should be placed in the 
Holy of Holies, by the side of the Ark, the 
Throne of God 3 . Remember what the Holy of 
Holies was. It was the type and figure of heaven 
itself*. And into it no one might enter, except 
the High Priest, and he only once a year. By 
placing therefore the Pentateuch there, God Him- 
self has set apart that Book from all other books. 
■\ He enshrined it in His own Oracle. He conse- 
crated it. The God of Truth Himself thus 
avouched its veracity. The Omnipotent thus 
■ protected it. He received it under the shadow 
of His Wings and made it safe under His feathers 5 . 
The Holy One of Israel proclaimed its sanctity, 
and acknowledged it as His own. 

This book of the Law, treasured up in the 
Holy of Holies, was the Original from which 
Copies were to be made ; and it was the standard 
by which those copies were to be revised and 
verified. The sacred Original was to remain in 

3 See Deut. xxxi. 9. 24—26. Josh. xxiv. 26. That this com- 
mand concerned the whole Pentateuch is shown by HavernicJc, 
Einleitung i. p. 19. The objection of some recent sceptical 
writers (such as JDe Wette and others), alleging that this statement 
is inconsistent with the assertion in 1 Kings viii. 9, that in Solo- 
mon's days there was nothing in the Ark save the Two Tables of 
stone, is refuted by the fact that the Law is not said in Deut. xxxi. 
26, to be deposited in the Ark, but by the side of it. Cp. Josephus, 
Antiq. viii. 4. 

4 Heb. ix. 7—11. Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. V. 
6 Ps. xci. 4. 



Original of the Pentateuch to be copied out by 4o 
the Kings with their own hand. 

the Most Hoi j Place. But the knowledge of its 
contents was to be diffused every where. 

6. In order still further to declare its divine 
authority t Almighty God commanded that the 
Kings of the Hebrew Nation, on their accession 
to the throne, should make with their own hands 
a copy of the Law from the Original that was 
kept in the Holy of Holies 6 . Sovereigns were 
to be its transcribers, and to keep the Law of 
God always by their side, as the code and charter 
of their government 7 . 

This sacred Original was preserved in the 
Tabernacle, and in the Temple, for many genera- 
tions 8 ; and in all probability it was this Original, 
which, having been rescued from the hands of 
idolatrous Princes, and secreted in evil days, was 
discovered in the Temple, in the days of the good 
King Josiah 9 . It was the sight of that venerable 
Volume, written by the great Lawgiver, and 
the sound of the divine words recited from that 
holy oracle, which affected the tender heart of 
that pious youthful Prince with awe and peni- 
tential sorrow for the sins of the People com- 
mitted to his charge, and with godly fear of the 
divine judgments hanging over their heads. 

6 Deut. xvii. 18, 19. Josh. i. 8. 

7 Cp. the remarks of Hciverniclc, Einleitung, § 139 of the 
original, or § 35 of the English Translation. 

8 See preceding page. 

9 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14, 15. 2 Kings xxii. 8—10. See Bishop 
Patrick and Dr. Kennicott on 2 Kings xxii. 8, and Edoernick's 
Eialeitung, § 139, or § 35 of the English Translation. 



46 Divine Inspiration of the Prophetical Books of 
the Old Testament. 

7. The Truth of the Pentateuch being proved, 
and its Inspiration being avouched, it follows as a 
necessary consequence that the rest of the Old 
Testament is also divinely inspired. 

The Old Testament was called u the Law, and 
the Prophets " and it is certain that all the Jews 
regarded the Prophets as on a par with the Laiv. 
They revered the Law and the Prophets as the 
lively oracles of God. 

Almighty God had commanded in the Law, 
that if any man laid claim t*o be called a Prophet 
of the Lord, and could not establish that claim, 
he was to be put to death 2 . 

Thus God had provided a safeguard against the 
reception of any prophecy, which could not prove 
its divine origin. And since the Prophetical Boohs 
of the Old Testament were received universally by 
the Hebrew Nation as of equal authority with the 
Books of the Law, which were enshrined by God's 
command in the Holy of Holies, and since God 
Himself, Who was the Sovereign of the Nation, 
did not censure that reception, but approved and 
sanctioned it, this concurrent consent of God's 
people is no other than the witness of God Him- 
self to the Divine Authority of the Prophets. 

Consider, also, that the Hebrew Prophets do 
not natter the Hebrew People. They speak with 
holy boldness, as Ambassadors of God, in stern 
and severe language, and rebuke them for their 

1 See Matt. xxii. 40. Luke xvi. 16. Acts xiii. 15. 

2 Deut. xiii. 5; xviii. 20. Cp. Jer. xiv. 15. Zech. xiii. 3. 



Divine Inspiration of the Prophetical Books of 47 
the Old Testament. 

sins, and call them to repentance, and denounce 
divine retribution upon them, unless they repent. 
God's commission to them was, Cry aloud, spare 
not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show My 
people their transgression, and the House of Jacob 
their sins 3 . 

Can it be supposed, that the Hebrew People 
would have received such writings, and would 
have revered them as of equal authority with the 
Books of Moses, i. e. as inspired, unless they had 
been constrained by the most cogent proofs to 
acknowledge their divine authority ? No. They 
would have treated them in the same scornful and 
contumelious manner as the infatuated Jehoiakim, 
sitting in his winter-house, with the fire burning 
on the hearth, treated the Prophetic Poll of 
Jeremiah 4 ; they would have cut them into shreds, 
and destroyed them. But no : they did not dare 
to do so. They received them ; they bowed their 
heads before them with reverential awe, and 
acknowledged them to be the oracles of God. 

Thus even the sins of the Jews have been made 
instrumental in proving the Inspiration of the 
Old Testament. Their sins by which they broke 
the commands contained in the Old Testament, 
show that, if they had been able, they would have 
rejected those Books by which their sins are 
condemned. But they received them as divine. 
They carry them every where in their hands. 
Even to this day they wander about, a national 

3 Isa. lviii. 1. * Jer. xxxvi. 22. 



48 Completion of the Canon of the Old Testament. 

Cain, of nearly twenty centuries, having killed 
their own brother Abel — the true Shepherd of 
the sheep, Christ Jesus, — and bear about with 
them the mark of God 5 . 

8. Here also we have another proof that no 
alteration has ever been made in the Old Testa- 
ment. The Prophets of God rebuke the People 
for their sins. But the Prophetical Books do not 
contain a single syllable of reproof addressed to 
the Jewish People for the sin of altering their 
Scriptures. If the People had ever committed so 
heinous a sin as that, it must have been noticed 
by the Prophets. And since those books do not 
give any hint that such alteration was ever 
attempted, we may rest assured, that the Hebrew 
Scriptures were preserved inviolate by the Hebrew 
People. 

VI. Let us now fix our eyes on the historical 
epoch when those Scriptures were completed. 
This was after the return of the Jews from 
Babylon; in the time of Ezra, about 440 years 
before Christ. 

Almighty God then raised up holy men, who 
revised the copies of the Old Testament, and were 
commissioned to add some writings to them, and 
to seal up the Scriptures, and to deliver them to 
future ages. Ezra himself, the Priest of God and 
Scribe 6 , was one of these ; and with him were the 
prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, whose 
5 Gen. iv. 15. 6 Ezra vii. 6. 10. 12. 



The external evidence of the Inspiration of the 49 
Old Testament is confirmed by internal. 

divine mission has been proved by the fulfilment 
of their Prophecies. The sacred Volume was then 
closed ". Malachi is called by the Jews " the Seal 
of the Prophets." The voice of Prophecy ceased 
with him, and it remained silent for four hundred 
years, when it sounded forth again at the Coming 
of Christ. 

VII. The pious Israelite, who meditated on 
these facts, would see strong reason to remain 
stedfast in the belief of his forefathers, that the 
Books of the Old Testament were given by In- 
spiration of God. And the more he examined the 
contents of those Scriptures, the more he would 
be convinced that this belief is true. The beauty, 

7 See Josephus c. Apion. i. § 8, and the assertions of the Hebrew 
Rabbis in the Mishna, torn. iv. p. 409, eel. Surenhusii, Ainst. 
1702, and Buxtorfii Tiberias, capp. x. and xi. pp. 90 — 99, ed. 
Basil, 1665. Prideav.x's Connexion, part i. books v. vi. Bp. 
JBeveridge on the Vlth Article, p. 271, ed. Oxf. 1810, and Hticer- 
nick, Einleitung, § 8, pp. 27 — 38, and Dr. W. Lee on Inspiration, 
p. 302. 

Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi revised the copies, and 
closed the Canon of the Old Testament. But the notion that Ezra 
restored the Old Testament, after it had been destroyed, is au 
apocryphal fable. Some ancient Christian Fathers are cited in 
support of it. Irenceus iii. 21. Cp. Euseb. H. E. v. 8. Clemens 
Alex. Strom, l.xxii. Tertullian de Cultu Mulier. c. 3. S.Jerome 
c. Helvid. c.3. But they do not maintain it. The work De Mirab. 
Script, (ii. 33) ascribed to S. Augustine, and quoted by some as 
countenancing that fable, is spurious. The Christian Fathers bear 
testimony to the genuine Jewish tradition that Ezra and the 
Prophets with him revised and completed the Canon of the Old 
Testament. 



50 Reply to the sceptical allegation grounded upon 

majesty, and simplicity of the Hebrew Scriptures ; 
their adaptation to the nature and needs of man- 
kind ; the holiness of their precepts, the harmony 
of all their parts, extending through a thousand 
years, the fulfilment of their prophecies, the bless- 
ings conferred on those who received and obeyed 
them, would establish him more firmly in that 
faith. 

This faith of the ancient people of God is our 
faith also : we receive the Old Testament from 
the hands of those, to whom, as the Apostle says, 
were committed the oracles of God. 

VIII. A few words may be said here, in reply 
to a sceptical objection. 

" You say that you receive Moses, David, and 
Isaiah, on the testimony of the Jews ; but did not 
the Jews reject Jesus Christ ? What rational 
ground/'' we are asked, " can you assign for dis- 
regarding the decision of the Jews in the case of 
Jesus, and accepting it submissively in the case of 
Moses, David, and Isaiah 8 ? " 

To this question it may be replied, that the 
pious and devout Jews, who received Moses, 
David, and Isaiah, did not reject Jesus Christ. 
Nay rather, because they received the Prophets, 
therefore they received Jesus Christ. Their lan- 
guage was, We have found Him of Whom Moses 



3 These words are transcribed from a Volume recently published 
by a sceptical writer. 



the rejection of Christ by the Jews. 51 

and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the 
son of Joseph* . 

True it is, that some Jews who held the Old 
Testament iu their hands, but did not understand 
the voices of the Prophets, which were read in their 
synagogues every Sabbath day, fulfilled them in con- 
demning Him l , and thus, even by their unbelief, 
they proved the Truth and Inspiration of those 
Prophets. For, those Prophets had foretold, that 
many of the Jews, to whom the Prophecies con- 
cerning Christ were delivered, would not under- 
stand and believe them. For example, Isaiah 
asks, when prophesying of Christ, Lord, who hath 
believed our report 2 ? He anticipates unbelief. 
Wonderful indeed it was, that the unbelieving 
Jews fulfilled those Prophecies, by doing those 
very things to Jesus Christ which those Prophecies 
foretold that they would do 3 . Thus the Unbelief 
of those who fulfilled those Prophecies by re- 
jecting Christ, is an argument for the truth of 
those Prophecies, and for the wisdom of those who 
understood them and received Him. Their un- 
belief strengthens our belief. 

Indeed, here is another evidence of God's 
Divine power in preserving the Scriptures, and 
of Christ's truth, concerning whom those Scrip- 

9 John i. 45. J Acts xiil. 27. 

2 Isa. liii. 1. See St. John's comment on that passage of Isaiah, 
John xii. 38 — 40. See also the prophecies on the blindness of the 
Jews, Ps. lxix. 24. Isa. vi. 9. Cp. Acts xxviii. 26. 

3 Acts siii. 27. 

E 1 



52 Beply to the sceptical allegation grounded upon 

tares speak. We Christians receive Jesus Christ 
on the evidence of those Prophecies which are 
guarded by Jews who reject Christ. Therefore 
jit cannot be alleged by the adversaries of Chris- 
tianity , that we have tampered with the docu- 
ments by which we prove its truth. Those 
documents come to us through the Jews. We 
appeal to the Old Testament, which has been 
preserved by them who hate us. The Jews in 
their dispersion carry about with them and guard 
carefully the Title-deeds of Christ Whom they 
have crucified. From the words of Moses, David, 
and Isaiah, in their hands, we prove the Divine 
mission of Jesus Christ 4 . 

IX. Let us now review what has been said. 
As soon as the Pentateuch was written, God pro- 
vided for its safe custody. He enshrined it in 
the Holy of Holies, and placed it under the wings 
of the Cherubim. Thus God Himself declared it 
to be divine. That Book was a precious jewel set 
in a holy casket by His hand. Copies were to be 
made of it. Kings were to write them. " The 
Holy Spirit spake by the Prophets" and added 
their writings to the Law of Moses. The divine 
Institution of the weekly Sabbath, and of the 

4 This argument is eloquently urged by S. Justin Martyr, Cc- 
hortat. ad Grsecos, cap. 13, and by S. Augustine in Psalm xl. and 
lvi. Proferimus codices ab inimicis ut conf undamus alios inimicos. 
Codicem portat Judseus, unde credat Cbristianus. Librarii nostri 
Cacti sunt Judsei. See also his treatise c. Paustuin, xii. c. 13, and 
De Unitate Ecclesise, c. 16. 



the rejection of Christ by the Jews. 53 

yearly National Festivals, promoted the study of 
the Law, and bare witness to its truth. The dis- 
persion of the Levites as the Expositors of the 
Law, throughout the Holy Land, and the raising 
up of Prophets, who were God's Messengers, were 
providential arrangements for preserving the Old 
Testament, and for assuring the People of its 
divine authority. The national calamities of the 
Hebrew People were made subservient to the 
same end. The dissolution of the Twelve Tribes 
into two separate kingdoms, and the downfall of 
those Kingdoms, and the dispersion of the Ten 
Tribes and of the Two Tribes into all parts of the 
world, where Synagogues were built for the read- 
ing of the Scriptures on the Sabbath days, and 
the universal consent of all those scattered Tribes, 
receiving the same Bible and venerating it as the 
Word of God, have also been instrumental in 
guarding and diffusing the Old Testament, and 
in guaranteeing its integrity and truth. 

These divine dispensations are clear evidences 
of design. They are witnesses of a providential 
superintendence, watching over the Old Testa- 
ment for fifteen hundred years from the days of 
Moses to those of Christ. Almighty God speaks 
by them, and proclaims the Integrity, the Truth, 
and Inspiration of the Old Testament. 

This testimony extends to the whole of the Old 
Testament. It covers the entire Yolume. 

That providential care has been also continued 
from the age of Christ to this hour, — that is, for 



54 The testimony of God bearing witness in the 
Hebrew Church to the Old Testament, fyc. 

near two thousand years. Even the rejection of 
Christ by the Jews, and their hostility to Chris- 
tianity, have been made ministerial to the safe 
custody of the Scriptures, and to the proof of their 
Truth and Inspiration. 

The care with which God has guarded the 
Books of the Old Testament has not been relaxed 
for a moment since they were written. He that 
watcheth over them neither slumbers nor sleeps 5 . 
ISTay rather, that providential care has manifested 
itself more clearly in every successive age. 

The Pentateuch, as soon as it was written, was 
placed in the Holy of Holies, and was enshrined 
under the wings of the Cherubim. 

X. But we, who are Christians, do not stop here. 
We have far stronger evidences of the genuine- 
ness, veracity, and inspiration of the Books of 
the Old Testament than were ever vouchsafed to 
the Jeius. The whole of the Old Testament has 
been placed under the protection of the In- 
carnate Word. It is safe under the guardian- 
ship of Jesus Christ, Who is the same yesterday, 
and to-day P and for ever*. 

This will be proved, with God's help, in the 
following lecture. 

s Pa. exxi. 4. e Hi b. xiii. 8. 



LECTURE III. 



Luke iv. 14—17. 

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee : and 
there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. 
And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and 
as His custom tvas, He ivent into the Synagogue on the Sabbath 
day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto 
Him the Book of the Prophet JEsaias. 

On what grounds do we receive the whole of the 
Old Testament as the Inspired Word of God ? 

I. To this question an answer has been already 
given; — We receive the whole of the Old Tes- 
tament as such, on the authority of Grod Himself 
speaking in the universal consent and practice of 
His own People,, the Jews, to whom, as St. Paul 
says, were committed the oracles of God *, that is to 
say, who were entrusted with the guardianship of 
the Books of the Old Testament. 

II. But this is not all. We must now ascend to 
a still higher point than this. We must proceed 
to show, that this testimony to the Inspiration of 

1 Rom. iii. 1. 






£6 Testimony of Jesus Christ to the Inspiration of 
the Old Testament. 

the Old Testament is confirmed and verified by 
the infallible witness of onr Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. The Incarnate Word Himself 
sets His own divine seal on the Written Word. 
The Son of God delivers to us all the Books of 
i the Old Testament as the inspired Oracles of God. 
He in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
' head, He who is the Power of God, and the Wis- 
dom of God, He in whom are all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge, He who is the Light of the 
World, He who is the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life, He Who is God, and by Whom all things 
were made 2 , proclaims the truth and inspiration 
of the Old Testament. 

How, it may be asked, is this proposition 
proved ? 

How can it be shown, that we can appeal to 
the testimony of the Son of God in support of our 
belief in the Truth and Inspiration of the Old 
Testament ? 

III. To answer this question, we must first 
show the historical truth of the New Testament. 

Let us, then, begin with taking into our hands 
the Four Gospels, which profess to relate the say- 
ings, actions and sufferings of Jesus Christ. 

1. We can prove by external testimony, that 
these Four Gospels existed, in the same state as 
that in which they now exist, at the end of the 
first century of the Christian era, that is, nearly 

2 Col. ii. 9. 1 Cor. i. 24. Col. ii. 3. John via. 12. John xiv. 6. 
John i. 1—3. 



Proof of the truth of the Gospels, and consequently, 57 
of Christ's divine authority. 

1800 years ago. Ancient authors testify, that St. 
John's Gospel was written at that time, and that 
he acknowledged the truth of the other three 
Gospels, — those of St. Matthew, St. Mark, and 
St. Luke, — and added his own Gospel, to com- 
plete the Evangelical History 3 . 

2. We can prove by external evidence, that those 
Gospels, completed by St. John, were received, 
and were publicly read 4 as true histories by large 
communities of men, who had the best opportuni- 
ties of testing and knowing their truth ; namely, 
by the Christians, and by the Christian Churches 
which existed in primitive times. They would 
not have read those Gospels in their public wor- 
ship, unless they had believed them ; and they 
would not have believed them unless they were 
true. 

We can show that those persons and Churches 
could not have been deceived as to the credibility 
of those Gospels. And they could not have de- 
ceived others. They were plain men. Their ad- 
versaries reproached them as having no learning, 
wealth, or power. We can show that they had 

3 See Clemens Alexandrin. ap. Euseb. vi. 15; cp. ~Enseh. iii. 
24. Canon Muratorian. in Routh's Reliquife Sacrse, iv. p. 2. 
Victorin. in Apocalyps. Bibl. Patr. Max. iii. 41. Theodor. Mop- 
suest. in Catena ad Joann. in Dr. Mill's Greek Test. p. 198. 

S. Irenceus iii. 1 ; iii. 11. 7— 9. See S. Justin Martyr, Apol. 
i. 67. Cp. Westcott on the Canon of the New Test., p. 365 and p. 
367: "No one at present will deny that they (the Gospels, &c.) 
occupied the same position in the estimation of Christians in the 
time of Irenseus (i. e. in the second century) as they hold now." 



58 Proof of the timth of the Gospels, 

no earthly interest to serve in asserting the truth 
of those Gospels. On the contrary, the assertion 
of that truth exposed them to the loss of all 
worldly things. They resisted all earthly tempta- 
tions, they endured, cheerfully endured, all priva- 
tions, sufferings, and torments for its sake 5 ; they 
were stoned, beheaded, crucified, burnt, cast to 
the wild beasts, as heathen historians testify; 
these things, and more, they suffered in defence 
of the Truth of the Four Gospels. 

3. Now mark the result. 

That self- same Power, the Power of Heathen, 
Imperial Rome, which at first persecuted the 
Christians, and beheaded the Christians, and 
crucified the Christians, and cast the Christians to 
wild beasts for asserting the truth of the 
Gospels ; that very Power, that Roman Power, that 
Heathen Power, that Imperial Power, that Power 

5 Especially in the persecution under the Roman Emperor Dio- 
cletian, A.D. 203, who endeavoured to destroy the copies of the 
Christian Scriptures, and burnt many of those writings. See 
JEuseb. Hist. Eccl. viii. 2. Lactant. de Mort. Persecutor, c. xii. 
The Christians who were tempted by fear to surrender copies of 
them to their heathen persecutors were called "traditores" by 
their brethren. See the Passio of S. Felix in Balnzii Miscellanea 
ii. p. 77. — Gieseler, Church Hist. § 55 and 56. Eov.th, Reliquiaj 
Sacra?, torn. v. p. 341. " The holy Martyrs in their Acts (col- 
lected by Euinart, Amst. 1713, see pp. 87. 89. 356, 357. 394) 
proclaim in the presence of their Judges, that the Holy Books re- 
ceived by the Chinstians at that time, — the Gospels aud the other 
Books, — are revered by them, and are believed to be directly in- 
spired, and are affectionately guarded by them unto death, and ara 
not to be given up to any one." 



and consequently, of Christ's divine knowledge. 59 

which then ruled the world, was at length 
convinced of the Truth of the Four Gospels, which 
were received as God's Word by the Christians. 
That self-same Roman Power, the Queen and 
Mistress of the World, was converted to the cause 
of the Gospels. She publicly owned her conver- 
sion ; she acknowledged that those whom she had 
put to death as Christians, were Martyrs to the 
Truth. She revered the memories of Peter and 
Paul whom she had killed. She, who by the 
force of arms had made the Nations of the world 
to pass uuder her military yoke, humbly and 
meekly bowed her own head beneath the mild 
yoke of Christ. She changed her Heathen Tem- 
ples into Christian Churches. And in those 
Heathen Temples, when changed into Christian 
Churches, the Four Gospels of Matthew and 
Mark, Luke and John were thenceforth read as 
true and divine histories. She placed those Four 
Gospels upon Thrones in her own Council Cham- 
bers 6 ; and the Cross of Jesus of Nazareth, who 
had been crucified by the Roman Governor 
Pontius Pilate, — yes, the Cross of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, of obscure Nazareth in despised Galilee, — 
dislodged the Roman Eagle from the military 
standards of the Roman Legions, and was set on 

6 The Emperor Constantine thus speaks in his oration to the i 
Bishops at Nicsea : " The Gospels and the Apostolic writings and 
the oracles of the ancient Prophets clearly teach us what to believe 
of God. Let us receive the solution of the question before us from ' 
the divinely inspired words (t/c twv Q^onvtiKxruii/ Koywu)." T/ieo- 
doret, 1. 5. 



60 Proof of the truth of the Gospels, and consequently y 
of Christ's divine knoivledge. 

the Imperial Diadem of the Roman Masters of the 
world. 

These are facts as clear as the noonday sun. 
And in the face of these facts, who can say that 
the Four Gospels are not historically true ? 

4. This proposition then being admitted, that 
the Gospels are true, it follows, that there is such 
a Person as Jesns Christ ; and that He did indeed 
perform those wonderful works, which He is re- 
lated in the Four Gospels to have done ; that in 
the presence of multitudes, — many of them His 
bitter enemies, — He healed the sick, cast out 
devils, raised the dead; that He knew the thoughts 
and searched the hearts of men, and foretold future 
events ; that He rose again from the dead, and 
ascended into heaven : in a word, that He dis- 
played power, knowledge, and wisdom infinitely 
greater than were ever shown by any of the chil- 
dren of men ; and that He was indeed, what He 
claimed to be, and what by His mighty and mer- 
ciful works He proved Himself to be, — the Son 
of the Living God, the Light of the World, the 
Creator and Lord of all, coequal, coeternal with 
the Father 7 . 

5. This point being proved, let us bear in 
mind, — as is evident from external testimony, — 
that the Old Testament existed in our Lord's age, 
in the same condition as that in which it exists 
now. This has been already shewn in the last 
lecture. 

7 John viii. 12. 58; x. 30. 



Jesus Christ acknowledged all the Old Testament G\ 
to be given by Inspiration of God. 

The Jewish Nation of that age received the 
wliole of the Old Testament, not as the word of 
inan, but as the Word of God. They guarded 
the sacred Text of the Old Testament with 
scrupulous fidelity and unremitting vigilance ; 
they read the Old Testament publicly, Sabbath 
after Sabbath, throughout the year, in their 
Synagogues, in almost all countries of the world 5 
and, by reason of the multiplication of copies of 
the Original and of Translations, that were 
requisite for this general public reading of the 
Old Testament in every clime, it was not possible 
for any one to tamper with the Text of the Old 
Testament, or to make any change in it, either by 
interpolation or mutilation. 

6. Such was the state of things before Christ's 
Coming, and at His Coming into the world. And 
ever since that time, the Text of the Old Testa- 
ment has been guarded by the twofold, indepen- 
dent, antagonistic custody of the Jewish Syna- 
gogue and of the Christian Church ; so that we 
may confidently say, that the Old Testament 
which is now read in the Churches of England is 
the same as the Old Testament which was read 
in the Jewish Synagogues of our Lord's age. 
The Old Testament in our hands is the same as 
the Old Testament which was in the hands of 
Jesus Cheist. 

7. Contemplate therefore Jesus Christ holding 
in His hands the Old Testament. How did Be 
treat it ? He_, Who proved by His wonderful 



62 Jesus Christ acknowledged all the Old Testament 

deeds and words that He was wiser than all the 
children of men, He Who is our Divine Teacher, 
the True Light which lighteth every man 8 , He in 
Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, He 
in "Whom are hid all treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge 9 , He Who came into the world to bear 
witness unto the truth, how did He treat the Old 
Testament ? Did He treat it as " a common 
book ? " Did He say that some parts of it are 
inspired, and that other parts are not inspired ? 
Did He say that some portions of it are genuine, 
and that other portions are forged ? Did He say 
that some of its contents are true, and that others 
are false ? 

The answer to these questions is easy. The 
Jews guarded the Books of the Old Testament. 
They read those Books in their Synagogues every 
Sabbath, and they venerated all those Books, — 
they revered every part of those Books, — as true, 
as genuine, and as given by the inspiration of 
God. To quote the words of their own writer, 
Josephus 1 , it was "a principle innate in every 
Jew to regard those Books as oracles of God, 
and to cleave to them, yea, and to die gladly for 
them/' 

Now, how did our Blessed Lord treat this their 
national belief in the Inspiration of the Old Tes- 
tament ? 

Did Christ censure the Jews for ascribing the 

8 John i. 9 ; xix. 37. 9 Col. ii. 3. 9. 

1 See above, pp. 36, 37. 



to be given by Inspiration of God. 63 

Old Testament to God ? Did He blame them for 
accepting every part of it as God's Word? If the 
Old Testament is merely the word of man, or if 
any portion of it is false, if any part of it is a 
forgery, Christ would have reproved those who 
attributed the whole of it to God. He, Who 
was so zealous for His Father's honour that He 
drove the buyers and sellers even from the outer 
courts of His Father's House 2 , would have re- 
buked those who ascribed the erring* words of 
sinful man to the God of all Wisdom, Holiness, 
and Truth. He would not have made Himself an 
accomplice with those who put forth counterfeit 
coin in the Name of the King of kings. He would 
not have abetted those who stamped that adul- 
terated coinage with the Divine image and super- 
scription, and circulated it throughout the world. 
The Son of God would have resented such an 
ascription ; He would have denounced such an im- 
putation, as a profane outrage and insult against 
the awful majesty of God. 

But hear what the Gospels relate of Christ. 

Take, for instance, the chapter to which we 
have referred at the beginning of this lecture — 
the fourth chapter of St. Luke's Gospel. It begins 
with the history of the Temptation. There our , /..J,-. 
Lord defeats the Tempter with the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the Word of God 3 . Thrice Satan 
assailed Him, and thrice Christ foiled him with this 

2 Matt. xxi. 10. Mark xi. 15. . Luke xix. 45. John ii. 15. 
3 Enh. vi. 14. 



64 Jesus Christ acknowledged all the Old Testament 
to be given by Inspiration of God. 

weapon, "It is written V J It is remarkable that 
the Son of God vanquished Satan by three verses 
of the Pentateuch, that very part of Scripture 
which is now disparaged by some among us 
who profess themselves Masters of Israel. Would 
Christ have used the Pentateuch in such a conflict 
as that, and would Satan have fled before Him, if 
that weapon had not been divine ? 

But further, our Lord worked miracles ; and 
preached in the Synagogues of Galilee. He came 
to Nazareth. As His custom ivas, Re went into 
the Synagogue on the Sabbath Day. He there stood 
up to read. In those Synagogues the Books of 
the Old Testament were delivered to Him as the 
oracles of God, and He received them as such. 
" To-day/'' He said, ' ' is this Scripture fulfilled in 
your ears/' On another occasion He said, It is 
easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of 
the Law to fail 5 . Who then will venture to say 
that the Pentateuch is blemished with error ? 
And again, He declared that the Scripture cannot 
be broken 6 , and that not a jot or tittle of the Law 
would, pass away till all ivas fulfilled. Who then 
will assert that it is weak and fragile ? The 
Son of God, when on earth, communicated with 
the Jews, Sabbath after Sabbath, in public wor- 
ship; He took part with them in reading and 
expounding the Scriptures of the Old Testament 
as the inspired Word of God. Thus He declared 

4 Luke i\\ 4. 8. 12. 5 Luke xvi. 17. Cp. Matt. v. 18. 

G XvQrivai, JtLu x. 35. Matt. x. 18. 



The Son of God commands us to receive all the Old 65 
Testament as the inspired Word of God. 

that their belief in its Inspiration is true. He 
required all to receive it. 

8. To give, if possible, greater solemnity to this 
declaration, Christ put it into the mouth of the 
Father of the faithful, Abraham, the Representa- 
tive of all true Israelites; He uttered it by the 
voice of Abraham, removed from this world, and 
dwelling in the blessed society of the spirits of 
the departed, of Moses, and David, and Isaiah, 
and all the Prophets. In the parable of Lazarus 
and the Rich Man, in which our Lord uplifts the 
veil which separates this world from the world of 
spirits, Christ reveals to us Abraham, and He 
makes Abraham speak that remarkable speech, 
They, have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear 
them. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets/ 
neither will they be persuaded though one rose 
from the dead 7 . Awfully solemn words, uttered 
by the Lord of Life, speaking by Abraham, the 
friend of God. They have Moses and the Prophets. 

Who therefore of us, that entertains a blessed 
hope that his own spirit may be carried by Angels 
at his own death into Abraham's bosom, and be 
there in peace with those who have departed in 
the true faith and fear of God, will venture to deny 
that the Books which the Jews regarded as the 
Books of Moses and the Prophets, are not what 
they believed them to be, — true, genuine, and 
divine ? 

9. Yet more, after that the Son of God Himself 

7 Luke xvi. 29. 31. 



66 The Son of God commands us to receive all the Old 
Testament as the inspired Word of God. 

had overcome Death, and when, on the evening of 
His glorious Resurrection, He walked with the 
two disciples to Emmaus, and when, on that same 
evening, He appeared to His Apostles, He appealed 
to the Books of the Old Testament as true, and as 
inspired by God; Beginning at Moses and all the 
Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scrip- 
hires the things concerning Himself 8 ; and He said, 
These are the words which I spake unto you, that all 
things must be fulfilled which were vjritten in the 
Laiv of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the 
Psalms, concerning Me 9 . 

Thus then our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who is " God of God, Light of Light, Yery God 
of Yery God," has pronounced His divine verdict 
in behalf of the Truth, the Integrity, and In- 
spiration of the Old Testament. And this divine 
verdict, let us observe, applies to every part of the 
Old Testament. It covers the whole; it applies 
to every portion of all those Books which the 
Jews received as Holy Scripture. 

Therefore we may sum up by saying, that the 
So^ T of God delivers to us the whole of the Old 
Testament, and commands us to receive the whole 
as the Word of the Living God. 

10. This argument from Christ's acceptance of 
the Old Testament is so strong, that they who 
disparage the Old Testament have strained every 
nerve to weaken it. They allege that Christ 

8 Luke xxiv. 27. 9 Luke xxiv. 44. 



Reply to sceptical allegations against the authority 67 
of Christ. 

spoke only as a " learned Jewish Rabbi 1 ," or, that 
He " accommodated Himself" to the popular belief 
of the Jews, and did not declare His own opinions 
concerning the Old Testament. 

Surely the weakness of such allegations as 
these, and (must we not say ?) their impiety, 
leads us to recognize more clearly the force of 
the argument from Christ's reception of the Old 
Testament. 

Did Jesus Christ speak only as a " learned 
Rabbi?" Did any learned Rabbi ever say, as 
Christ did, "I am- the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life*," "land My Father are One z ?" Did any 
learned Rabbi ever say, u Before Abraham was, I 
am 4 ," and, "For this cause came I into the world 
to bear witness unto the truth; every one that is 
of the truth heareth My Voice' ?" Did any learned 
Rabbi ever say, " I am the Light of the world? 6 " 
Did any learned Rabbi ever say, " Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass 
away'?" Did any learned Rabbi ever say, " I am 
Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, 
the First and the Last, the Almighty*?" And as 
for accommodating Himself, as it is alleged, to 
popular errors of the Jews, what a monstrous 
proposition is that! Strange accommodation 

1 Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch, Pt. i. p. xxxi. Pt.ii. p. xvii. 
Davidson's Introduction to the Old Testament, vol. i. p. 127. 

2 John xiv. 6. 3 John x. 30. * John viii. 58. 
5 John xviii. 37. 8 John viii. 12. ' Mark xiii. 31. 
8 Rev. i. 8. 

F 2 



fo> 



68 The Holy Ghost bears witness to the truth and 
inspiration of the Old Testament. 

indeed ! Did not Jesus Christ denounce eight woes 
against the Jews for their sins 9 ? and did they 
not cry " Crucify Him, crucify Him?" because He 
would not accommodate Himself to their popular 
notions of a temporal and triumphant Messiah ? 

Therefore we may confidently appeal to the 
testimony of the Son of God, coequal and co- 
eternal with the Father , as avouching the Truth 
and Divine Inspiration of the Old Testament. 

11. Nor is this all. Christ promised that after 
His ascension He would send the Divine Com- 
forter, God the Holy Ghost, to teach His Apos- 
tles all things ; to guide them into all truth, to 
dwell with them and to be in them 2 . 

The Holy Apostles, being taught by the Holy 
Spirit whom Christ sent down from heaven, de- 
clared that the Old Testament is inspired by God. 
Thus St. Peter speaks not only the opinion of his 
own Nation, but utters the judgment of the Holt 
Spirit, when he says of the Hebrew Prophets, 
that Prophecy came not hy the will of man, but 
that they spake what they spake, being borne along 
by the Holy Ghost 3 ; and St. Paul says that he 
believes all things ivhich are written in the haw and 
the Prophets 4 , and he reminds Timothy that the 
Scriptures which he had known from his child- 



9 See Matt, xxiii. 13—39. » Luke xxiii. 21. 

2 John xiv. 26 ; xvi. 7. 13 ; xiv. 16, 17. 3 2 Pet. i. 21. 

4 Acts xxiv. 11. 



Appeal to the authority of Christ, in answer 69 
to sceptical objections. 

hood are holy, and are the things which are able* 
to make him wise unto salvation through faith 
that is in Christ Jesus; and he adds, that every 
Scripture — that is, every part of Scripture — is 
given by inspiration of God, or as the words signify, 
is filled with the breath of God 6 . 

This Apostolic testimony to the truth and in- 
spiration of the Old Testament is the testimony of 
God the Holt Ghost, who came from heaven to 
teach the Apostles all things, and to guide them into 
all truth. 

TV. Let us now apply these things to ourselves 
and to the circumstances of our own times. 

1. Is the Old Testament true ? Is it from 
heaven ? Is it all true ? Is it all inspired ? 
These questions are now current among us. 
Books are put into our hands, written, it would 
seem, by shrewd men, distinguished by literary 
attainments, and by philosophic calmness and 
research, who appear to have inquired with 
candour and impartiality into the evidences of the 
Truth and Inspiration of the Old Testament, and 
not to have been convinced that it is of divine /#> 
origin. We hear it alleged by some, that it can! 

5 ra 8uvdiJ.€va, " the things that are able/' 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
Observe tbe definite Article. 

6 The testimonies of the Ancient Fathers of the Church in suc- 
cession after the Apostles, witnessing to the Inspiration of the Old 
Testament, as well as the New, may be seen collected by Dr. South, 
Reliquise Sacrse, vol. v. pp. 336—353, and by the Rev. Canon West- 
cott, Introduction to the Study of the Gospels, pp. 383—418. 



70 Appeal to the authority of Christ, in answer 
to sceptical objections. 

be shown from investigations of Geologists, that 
the physical phenomena of the Earth are incon- 
sistent with the record of Creation in the Book of 
Genesis. We hear it argued by others, who seem 
to be proficients in the study of Morals and Meta- 
physics, that to believe all mankind to have been 
involved in guilt by the sin of Adam and Eve, 
is not consistent with the reverence due to the 
Justice and Benevolence of God : and that it is 
derogatory to His Wisdom and Foresight, to 
suppose that He should have destroyed His own 
work of Creation by the general devastation of the 
Flood. 

What, again, they ask, are we to say of such 
strange and incredible narratives as those which 
are found in the Old Testament, such as the 
standing still of the sun at the command of Joshua, 
or concerning the speaking of Balaam's ass, and 
the coming forth of the Prophet Jonah from the 
whale's belly after three days ? What are we to 
think of these things ? 

Again, it is said by some persons of high 
reputation among us, reviving the sceptical objec- 
tions of Porphyry 7 which were exploded by S. 
Jerome 3 fourteen hundred years ago, that the 
prophecies of Daniel 9 bear marks of having been 

" And of some Jews since our Lord's age, who perceive that 
the Messiah must he already come, if Daniel is a Prophet. See 
Sottinger,'Thesa.uv. Philol. p. 504. 

8 See S. Jerome, Praefat. in Danielem, torn. iii. p. 1071, ed. 
Benedict. Paris, 1704. 

9 '■ Essays and Reviews," pp. 69. 76. 



Appeal to Christ in reply to sceptical objections. 71 

composed after the events which they profess to 
foretell, — and, in fact, are no prophecies at all. 

2. To those who may make these, and all such 
allegations as these, impugning the Truth, Ge- 
nuineness, or Inspiration of the Old Testament, we 
would put this question, — 

Whom shall we believe, — you, or Jesus Christ ? 

You allege, that there are certain things in the 
Old Testament which you cannot reconcile with 
results of your physical researches, or with your 
moral and metaphysical theories ; and you there- 
fore reject the Old Testament, and require us to 
surrender it in deference to your authority. 

But in this great question — in this most mo- 
mentous question of eternal life or eternal death — 
we ask again, Whom shall we believe, luhom shall 
we follow ? You, or Jesus Christ ? Shall we 
imagine that you, the creatures of a day, have a 
clearer insight into the Laws of Nature, than He 
who made the worlds 1 , and who controlled the 
Laws of Nature by a word ? Shall we suppose 
that you have more knowledge of the history and 
structure of the Universe, than He who swayed 
the Elements, and walked on the Sea, and calmed 
the Storm, and made the Earth give up her dead, 
and mounted on the clouds of Heaven ? Shall we 
listen to those metaphysical theorists, who would 
have us give up the Old Testament, which was 
received as a Divine Book by Him who read the 
heart, and knew what was in man, and foretold 
1 John i. 3. Heb. i. 2. 



72 Moral uses of difficulties in Scripture. 

things to come ? Shall we give credence to those 
Moralists, who reject the Old Testament, which 
was acknowledged to be God's Word by that 
Divine Teacher of Moral Virtue who preached the 
Sermon on the Mount; and whose Religion, 
wherever it has been received, has emancipated 
the Slave, and beautified Marriage, and has given 
a grace and dignity to Woman, which she never 
before possessed since she was Eve in Paradise, 
and has opened a pure well-spring of blessing and 
of joy in every Christian family, and prepares its 
members, by the discipline of love on earth, for 
the life of angels in heaven ? 

In what appertains to the Word of God let 
us not pretend to be wiser than the Son of God. 
Let us not reject a single iota of the Old Testa- 
ment, with frail and fallible children of men, but 
reverently receive the whole with the Son of God. 

He has delivered to us the Old Testament : He 
who is now enthroned in glory commands us to 
receive it. Alas ! for those who refuse Him that 
speaheth from heaven 2 . For He has warned us 
that he that believeth and is baptized shall he 
saved, and he that helieveth not shall he damned 3 . 
Inexpressibly awful words, uttered by the Judge 
of all, who hath the Keys of Hell and Heath 4 . He 
will one day he revealed in flaming fire taking 
vengeance on them that obey not the Gospel 5 . And 
then it will be seen by all, and it will be felt by 

2 Heb. xii. 25. 3 Mark xvi. 16. 

4 Rev. i. 18. 5 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. 



Moral uses of difficulties in Scripture. 73 

the children of darkness, that while He is infinite 
in mercy to all who believe and obey Him, yet to 
all who do not believe Him, our God is a consuming 
fire'. 

3. Looking, then, to Christ holding the Old 
Testament in his hands, we are not staggered by 
any difficulties in it. We expect to find difficulties 
in a Revelation from a Being like God to such a 
creature as man. We even rejoice in these 
difficulties. We do not fear them as enemies, but 
welcome them as allies, and embrace them as 
friends; for they are occasions of our growth in 
grace. They exercise our humility. They are 
the leaves and flowers of which our heavenly 
crown is woven. They remind us of our own 
weakness and ignorance, and of the power and 
wisdom of Christ. They send us to Him, and to 
the Gospel. They make us to go and sit down as 
little children at the feet of Jesus Christ. 

If we may so speak, before the Coming of 
Christ into the world, there were many clouds 
and mists which veiled the true sense of Scripture 
from the sight. But many of those clouds and mists 
have been now dispelled by the Gospel ; and the 
time is coming when they will all be dispersed 
by the glorious beams of the Sun of Righteousness, 
Jesus Christ. 

4. Take, for instance, the standing still of the 
sun at the command of Joshua. I have elsewhere 
examined in detail the objections to this state- 
's Heb. xii. 29. 



74 History of Joshua ; and of Balaam. 

inent r . Let us remember that Joshua was a 
type and figure of Jesus Christ. All his doings 
have some reference to his great Antitype. 
" There is scarcely an action of Joshua (says Bp. 
Pearson), which is not clearly predictive of our 
Saviour." That great miracle will hereafter be 
seen to have a prophetic relation to Christ. This 
will be manifest at the Great Day, when our 
Jesus comes with His Armies of Angels to subdue 
His enemies, and to settle His faithful soldiers 
and servants in the heavenly Canaan. The Sun 
will then stand still, the Moon will be stayed, the 
whole system of the visible Universe will not be 
dissolved, till Christ's Victory is complete. He 
must reign till He hath put all enemies under His 
feet. And when all things shall be subdued unto 
Him, — then the heavens will pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, 
the earth also and the worlts that are therein shall 
be burnt up. Then there will be a great sunset. 
Then His Mediatorial Kingdom, which He has as 
Jesus or Joshua, will be finished, then will the end 
be, when He shall have put down all rule and all 
authority and power : and God will be all in 
all 8 . 

5. Thus again, as to the history of Balaam. 
It may be a difficulty to some. But it will re- 
mind every Christian reader, that the Apostle of 
Christ, St. Peter, who was enabled by Christ to 

7 See the notes in my Commentary on Joshua x. 
« 1 Cor. xv. 24—28. 



History of Balaam ; Jonah in the whale's belly. 75 

heal the sick, and raise the dead, and to speak 
with tongues 9 , and to discern the spirits, as in 
the case of Ananias \ and to foretell the future, 
has referred to the history of Balaam in the 
second chapter of his second Epistle. The Holy 
Spirit speaking by St. Peter accepts the history 
of Balaam, and explains its inner meaning, and 
reminds us how by that signal example, the Lord, 
who opened the mouth of the ass, showed, that 
even the most despised of the brute creatures are 
wiser and more clear-sighted than a disobedient 
Prophet, or a sceptical Philosopher. The dumb 
ass speahing with man's voice, forbad the madness 
of the Prophet 2 . 

6. Thus also as to the history of Jonah in the 
whale's belly. It may be a difficulty with some; 
but in reading that history every Christian stu- 
dent will recollect, that Jesus Christ has adopted 
and authenticated that history, and has applied 
and appropriated it to Himself. As Jonas ivas 
three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so 
(said Christ) shall the Son of Man be three days 
and three nights in the heart of the earth 3 . The 
Christian reader will observe, that Christ's re- 
ference to the history of Jonah is interwoven 
with Christ's prophecy concerning Himself; and 
he will remember that Christ's word was proved 
to be true by the fulfilment of that prophecy. 

,J Acts ii. 4; iii. 7; ix. 34. 40. 1 Acts v. 3. 

- 2 Pet. ii. 16. May I refer to my notes on Num. xxii. ? 
3 Matt. xii. 40. May I also refer to my notes on Jonah i. ? 



76 Booh of Daniel. 

Christ was three days and three nights in the 
heart of the earth ; and He then raised Himself. 
Thus Christ's authorization of Jonah's history is 
verified by the fulfilment of Christ's prophecy 
concerning Himself, of Whom Jonah was a type. 
Let us not read the history of Jonah by the 
feeble glimmeriugs of a purblind sciolism, but by 
the clear light of Christ's glorious Gospel, and 
we shall see the proof of its truth in His Burial 
and Resurrection. Thus these Scriptural diffi- 
culties will be dissolved by a spiritual alchymy in 
the crucible of faith. 

7. Once more : the unbeliever alleges that the 
prophecies of Daniel correspond so minutely with 
the events that they profess to predict that they 
must be posterior to those events. A strange 
allegation ! As if there were any past or future 
with God ! As if He, who spake by the Prophets, 
does not see all things present at once ! It is 
enough for us to know that the Book of Daniel, 
as it is in our hands now, was in the hands of the 
Jewish nation of our Lord's age; and was received 
by them as inspired 4 ; and that what they re- 
ceived as inspired was also received as such by 
Jesus Christ. Indeed He expressly owns Daniel 
as a prophet. " When ye shall see the abomina- 

4 See the remarkable testimony of the Jewish historian Josephus, 
Antiquities, book x. chapters 10 — 12. See also Maimonides, More 
Nevochim, ii. 45, who says " Daniel, the Psalm?, &c, are all 
written by the Holy Spirit." May I be allowed to refer here to 
my Introduction and Notes to the Book of Daniel ? 



Christians enjoy greater advantages than the He- 77 
brews, even with regard to the Hebrew Scriptures. 

tion of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Pro- 
phet V — Daniel the Prophet may be no Pro- 
phet to the unbeliever ; the book of Daniel may 
be a forgery to the sceptic of the nineteenth 
century ; but to us, my Christian friends, let him 
be Daniel the Prophet; for he was Daniel the 
Prophet to his own nation, he ivas " Daniel the 
Prophet " to Jesus Christ. 

V. Let us here acknowledge our own spiritual 
privileges, and our cause for thankfulness to God. 
The Jews of old were greatly favoured by Him, 
but how much more favoured are we ! " What 
advantage hath the Jew ?" asks the Apostle. 
" Much every way/ 3 he replies, " chiefly because 
unto them were committed the oracles of God." 
And may we not much more say, ce What advan- 
tage hath the Christian ? Much every way •" 
even more than the Jew. For ive have a stronger 
assurance of the Divine Inspiration of the He- 
brew Scriptures than the Jews themselves had. 
They received the Old Testament as inspired, on 
the testimony of their forefathers ; but it is deli- 
vered to us, as inspired, by the Son of God. 
Here is an inexpressible comfort ; here indeed is 
a joyful assurance, in days like these, of rebuke 
and blasphemy. Here we have hope and peace 
in the sorrows of life, and in the hour of death. 
Our belief in the Truth and Inspiration of the Old 

5 Matt. xxiv. 15. Mark xiii. 14. Dan. ix. 27 ; xii. 11. 



78 Moral uses of difficulties in Holy Scripture. 

Testament, yes, of the ivJiole of the Old Testament, 
rests on a foundation that can never be shaken. 
It rests on the testimony of Christ. Therefore 
we may dwell safely, and defy the storms raging 
around us. Let the rain descend; let the floods 
of Unbelief come, and the winds of false Doctrine 
blow, and beat upon our house ; it will not fall, 
for it is built upon a Rock 6 . It is built upon the 
Rock of Ages 7 ; it is built upon Jesus Christ. It 
is built on the testimony of God the Holy Ghost, 
whom He sent to His Apostles, to teach them all 
things, and to guide them into all truth. 

VI. Finally, may we not say, that the written 
Word of God is like the Incaenate Word Him- 
self, — set for the fall, and also for the rising of 
many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken 
against 8 ? 

Holy Scripture is set for our moral probation, 
which supposes trial and difficulty. It exhibits 
us to men and angels as we are. It displays 
what manner of spirit ive are of 9 . It is a test 
and touchstone of our fitness for heaven. It 
proves, whether we have those moral habits and 
tempers of mind, — that distrust of ourselves, and 
that sense of our need of the light of the Holy 
Ghost without which no man can hope to be able 
to see the truth. It shows whether we possess 
those dispositions of meekness and docility, and 

6 Matt. vii. 24, 25. 7 Tsa. xxvi. 4. 

a Luke ii. 34. 9 Luke ix. 55. 



§ Those difficulties will be cleared away from the 79 

eyes of those who use them aright. 

readiness to weigh evidence with candour and 
fairness, without which no man is fit for the king- 
dom of God \ 

The difficulties in Scripture vanish into nothing, 
when they are compared with the evidence in Us 
favour; they are merely as dust in the balance, 
when set against the difficulty, or rather the 
moral impossibility, of resisting the testimony of 
Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, to the truth 
and inspiration of the Bible. They are like mole- 
hills, when compared with that mountain. 

Holy Scripture is set for our fall, — if we 
proudly set up our own reason against divine 
revelation, and in opposition to the testimony of 
Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, and if, with a 
partial eye to difficulties in single texts taken by 
themselves, and without due regard to the general 
scope of the whole, and to the divine evidence of 
its Truth and Inspiration, we take occasion to 
cavil at its contents, and deny its divine origin 
and authority. And then our cavils will be our 
punishment. They will be the recoil of cur own 
sin against ourselves. They will provoke God 
to withdraw His grace from us, and to leave 
us to ourselves ; and then we shall be spiritually 
blind. For how can we hope to see, without 
Him Who is the Light ? 

LLet those who carp at Holy Scripture be ear- 
nestly and affectionately requested to consider 
that by so doing they oppose themselves to Christ, 
1 Luke ix. 62. 



80 Moral uses of difficulties in the Bible. 

Who sets His Divine Seal upon Scripture. They 
rebel against Him Who is God ; and Who is 
their future Judge, and Who will determine their 
sentence for ever according to their treatment of 
His Word. (John xii. 48.) They make Scripture, 
which is given to them for their joy and happi- 
ness in this world and in eternity, — to be an 
occasion to them of everlasting misery and shame ; 
to be for their fall even into an abyss of perdition, 
and into the bottomless pit, and the lake of fire, 
which is the second death. (Rev. xx. 10, 14.) 

But, on the other hand, thanks be to God, 
Scripture is set for our rising, — for our rising to 
heavenly glory, — if we use those difficulties 
aright, and are led thereby to acknowledge the 
weakness of our own faculties in their present 
state, and our consequent need of divine grace ; 
and to exercise humility, and to thank God for 
what is 'perfectly clear in Holy Scripture ; and to 
tarry the Lord's leisure, and to look forward with 
patience, faith, and hope to that blessed time, 
when all those difficulties will be dispersed, and 
the film and mist, which now cloud our spiritual 
vision, will be purged away; and we shall no 
longer see, as now, through a glass darkly, but 
shall see face to face, and know even as ive are 
known 2 . 

2 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 



LECTURE IV. 



Luke xi. 33. 



No man, token he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret 
place, neither under a bushel, but on acandlesticlc, that they which 
come in may see the light '. 

We have been engaged in considering, what the 
reasons are for belief in the Inspiration of the Old 
Testament. 

I. The subject now proposed for examination 
is; — 

On what grounds do we receive the New Testa- 
ment as the Inspired Word of God ? 

1. God is One, and Everlasting; and if the 
New Testament is from Him, we may reasonably 
anticipate, that the method employed by Him for 
assuring us of the Inspiration of the New Testa- 
ment, will, as far as the difference of circumstances 
allows, be similar to that plan by which He has 
assured us of the Inspiration of the Old. 

2. When we were asked for the reasons of our 

1 Cp. Matt. v. 15. Mark iv. 21. Luke viii. 16. 

Q 



82 What are the grounds for belief 

belief in the Inspiration of the Old Testament, our 
answer was, — 

First, we receive the Old Testament on the 
authority of God Himself, speaking by the uni- 
versal consent and practice of the Hebrew Nation, 
to which, as the Apostle says, were committed the 
Oracles of God *. 

Next we proceeded to show, that when the Son 
of God Himself came down from heaven, and 
dwelt among us, He acknowledged the truth of 
that belief in the Inspiration of the Old Testa- 
ment. Our Blessed Lord declared His own con- 
currence in, and pronounced His divine approval 
of, this consent and practice of the Hebrew Nation, 
receiving all the Books of the Old Testament, as 
set apart from all other Volumes then existing in 
the world, and as holy and divine Writings, dic- 
tated by the Spirit of God. 

Thirdly, when Jesus Christ had ascended into 
heaven, He sent the Holy Ghost to teach His 
Apostles all things, and to guide them into all 
truth. And they, so taught and guided, received 
the Old Testament as divine. 

3. Our present assertion is, that Almighty God 
has employed similar means for assuring us of the 
Inspiration of the New Testament. 

We affirm that the New Testament comes to 
us principally and originally from Jesus Christ. 

2 Rom. iii. 1. 



in the Inspiration of the New Testament ? 83 

We look up to heaven with the eye of Faith, and 
we see Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, en- 
throned there in His glorious Majesty, and hold- 
ing in His hands the Old and New Testaments, 
and delivering to us both Testaments, as the 
Word of the Living God. 

4. In order to show the soundness of this belief, 
we must revert to a proposition already proved in 
a previous discourse, namely, that the Four Gos- 
pels are historically true 3 . 

That the Four Gospels are true, has been shown 
from the facts, that the Gospels were publicly read 
in Christian Churches in primitive times; and 
that they who read them could not have been 
deceived as to their veracity ; and that they died 
gladly in defence of their Truth : and that even- 
tually the Roman Empire, which at first had per- 
secuted the Christians for belief in the Gospels, 
was itself converted to Christianity, and received 
the Gospels as true. 

II. The truth of the Gospels being established, 
it follows that the Son of God uttered those 
sayings which He is related in the Gospels to 
have spoken. 

1. Among the declarations of Christ recorded 
in the Gospels, we find the following : Upon this 
Rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell 
shall not prevail against it 4 . Lo, I am with you 
alway, even unto the end of the world*. Christ 

3 See above, pp. 57—60. 

4 Matt. xvi. 18. 5 Matt, xxviii. 20, 



84 Our Lord promised to give supernatural Inspi- 
ration to His disciples ; 

promised to send the Holy Spirit to His disciples, 
to guide them into all truth, and to abide ivith them 
for ever. These things have I spoken unto you, 
being yet present with you; but the Comforter, 
which is the Holy Ghost, ivhom the Father vrill send 
■in My name, He shall teach you all things, and 
bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I 
have said unto you 6 . And, When He, the Spirit 
of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth : 
for He shall not speak of Himself ; but whatsoever 
He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will 
show you things to come 7 . I ivill pray the Father, 
and He ivill give you another Comforter, that He 
may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of 
Truth 8 . And again, I will give you a mouth and 
wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be 
able to gainsay nor resist s . 

The fulfilment of these promises of Christ is 
avouched in the history of the Acts of the Apos- 
tles l , the truth of which is proved by its recep- 
tion and public reading in the primitive Churches 
of Christendom. 

2. Hence we may conclude, that Christ enabled 
His Apostles and Evangelists to reveal super- 
natural mysteries ; and that the words which they 
have delivered to the Church for her perpetual 
instruction in divine truth, and which have been 
read as such in her public assemblies from their 

6 John xiv. 25, 26. 7 John xvi. 13. 

8 John xiv. 16. 9 Luke xxi. 15. 

i Acts ii. 4. 



and He instituted the Church to be a Witness of 85 
the Inspiration of the Scriptures lorilten by them. 

age until now, are not words which, man's ivisdom 
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth \ 

3. Next, we may deduce from Christ's words 
just rehearsed, this inference — that He has insti- 
tuted in the world a visible Society, called His 
Church, to which He has promised His perpetual 
presence and His Spirit, to lead it into all truth, 
and to abide with it unto the end. 

Accordingly, we find that the Apostle St. Paul, 
having regard to Christ's promise of His continual 
presence in His Church, calls her His Body ; and 
meditating on His love to His Church, and her 
dearness to Him, he speaks of her as united to 
Christ in spiritual wedlock 3 ; and forasmuch as 
she is quickened, and taught by God the Holy 
Spirit dwelling in her, and publishing by her, as 
by a living organ, His will and word, the Apostle 
says, that she is the Ghurch of the Living God, the 
Pillar and Ground of the Truth *. 

We cannot say with some persons, that we re- 
ceive the Scriptures as divine merely because we 
know ivho their writers were, and that they were 
good men full of the Holy Ghost, and that there- 
fore whatever they wrote must be inspired of 
God. 

The truth is, we do not know, by ivhom some 
of the Books of Scripture were written 5 ; and 

2 1 Cor. ii. 13. 3 Eph. v. 23—32. 

4 1 Tim. iii. 15. 

5 E. g. the Books of Job, Judges, and others in the Old Testa- 
ment. The Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament was, in 



86 Analogy in the means used by Almighty God 

this uncertainty seems to have "been intended to 
serve a providential purpose, in- order that we 
might not attribute the authority of the Scrip- 
tures to the men by whose instrumentality they 
were written, but to God who wrote the Scriptures 
by their hands. 

We receive the Books of Holy Scripture on the 
testimony of Jesus Chkist, the Son of God; 
Who sent from heaven the Holy Ghost to teach 
His Apostles all things (that is, all things neces- 
sary to salvation), and to guide them into all 
truth, and to abide for ever in His Church ; and 
Who testifies to the Truth and Inspiration of 
Holy Scripture by His Divine Witness in the 
Church. 

III. One of the principal offices of the Church 
of God, ever since Scripture was written, has been 
to guard Scripture, and to read it openly and 
habitually to the people, and to authenticate it as 
God's Word 6 . 

1. We find, that as soon as the first Books of 
Scripture — namely, the Books of Moses — were 
written, they were deposited by God's command 

all probability, written by St. Paul; but its inspiration is not only 
probable^ but certain : because it is received, as inspired, by the 
Universal Church of God. 

Besides, the authorship of some smaller portions of the Gospels 
may be matter of doubt : and this very circumstance brings out 
more clearly the grounds on which our belief in their inspiration 
rests. In proof of this, the Author begs leave to refer to his notes 
on Mark xvi. 9 — 20, and on John vii. 53 ; viii. 1 — 11. 

6 Cp. Hooker, V. xxii. 2. 



for preserving and authenticating both Testaments. 87 

for safe custody, near the Ark 7 , in the Holy 
of Holies ; and that they were ordered to be 
read at the Feast of Tabernacles as His Holy 
Word. 

These commands of God were the first begin- 
nings of a comprehensive Plan for the preserva- 
tion of the Holy Scriptures, and for their publica- 
tion to the world, and for the attestation of their 
divine origin and authority, by external evidence 
which all might see, and none could gainsay. 

The ancient Hebrew Church read the Old Tes- 
tament in the Synagogues, Sabbath after Sabbath, 
year after year, and century after century, in all 
parts of the world. It read the Old Testament 
as inspired by God. 

And when the Son of God came down from 
heaven, He took part, as we have already seen s , 
in this public reading of the Old Testament in the 
Hebrew Synagogues ; He acknowledged the Old 
Testament, which was there read, to be what the 
ancient Hebrew Church believed and testified it 
to be, — the unerring Word of God. 

2. This providential arrangement for the guar- 
dianship and authentication of God's Word, by 
means of public Eeading, was maintained and 
enlarged, from the time of the writing of the 
first Books of the Old Testament until Christ's 
First Advent ; and ever since that time it has 
been growing and expanding itself throughout 

" See above, pp. 44 — 47. s See above, pp. 62 — 66. 



88 



Purposes served by the primitive public Reading 



the world by the planting and propagation of 
Christian Churches in distant lands ; and it will 
continue to extend itself by the preaching of the 
Gospel as a witness unto all Nations even unto the 
end °, when Christ will come again to judge the 
World. 

This divinely-instituted plan of public Reading 
comprehends within its range the New Testament, 
as well as the Old ; and places the New Testament 
on the same footing with the Old. This appears 
from the history of the publication and preserva- 
tion of the New Testament. 

One of the most remarkable portions of the 
New Testament in this particular respect, is that 
which we have been reading in the Church during 
the last week, namely, the First and Second 
Epistles of St. Paul to the Church of Thessalonica. 
These two Epistles were the first of all St. Paul's 
Epistles, and were among the first written of all 
the Books of the New Testament. 

It is observable, that in the first of these two 
Epistles to the Thessalonians, St. Paul gives a 
solemn injunction, as follows : I charge, or adjure 
you, by the Lord, that this Epistle be read unto all 
the holy brethren l . That Epistle was to be read 
openly in the Church. And in another Epistle, — 
that to the Colossians, — St. Paul takes for granted 
that it also would be read in the Church. He 
thus speaks : Wlien this Epistle is read among you, 

9 Matt, xxiv. 14. 1 1 Thess. v. 27. 



of the Boohs of the New Testament. 89 

cause that it he read also in the Church of the 
Laodiceans 2 . 

What St. Paul required to be done to his own 
Epistles, was done to all the Books of the New 
Testament. They were received and read openly 
and habitually on the Lord's Day, year after 
year and century after century, in Christian 
Churches, from primitive times 3 . 

And with what feelings were they received and 
read? Were they regarded as common writings? 
No : certainly not. They were received and read 
as the Word of God. They were reverently re- 
ceived as such ; they were received and read as 
Holy Scripture 4 ; they were read simultaneously 
with the Books of the Old Testament. They were 
read as equally inspired with the Books of Moses 
and the Prophets 6 , which had been received by 
Christ Himself, as the Word of the Living God. 

Thus the Holy Spirit, dwelling in the Church 
of God, bore witness to them, and testified that 
they are the Oracles of God 6 . 

2 Col. iv. 16. 3 See Bingham, Antiquities, XIV. ch. iii. 

4 It is remarkable that the word Tpacpj], which simply means 
writing, is reserved and appropriated in the New Testament 
(where it occurs fifty times) to the sacred writings, i. e. to the 
Holy Scriptures ; and marks the separation of the Scriptures 
from all " common books," indeed, from all other writings in the 
world ; just as in English the words Bible (i. e. booh:) and 
Scripture (i.e. writing) have been consecrated for a like use. 

5 See Bingham, Antiquities, XIV. ch. iii. 

6 Cp. Hooker, V. xxii. 2 : " The reading of the Word of God 
in open audience is the plainest evidence we have of the Church's 
assent and acknowledgment that it is His Word." 



90 Some smaller portions of the New Testament were 
not received at once by .all Churches. 

3. Let us also consider this. The writers of 
the New Testament lay claim to Inspiration. 
Thus St. Paul says to the Corinthians, I trow 7 
that I have the Spirit of God*. And, We speak 
not in words which man's ivisdom teacheth, hut which 
the Holy Ghost teacheth 9 . And he appeals to his 
miracles wrought among them in proof of his 
Inspiration. Truly the signs of an Apostle were 
wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and 
wonders, and mighty deeds 1 . 

The Epistles of St. Paul, in which these words 
occur, contain severe rebukes and censures of 
those to whom these Epistles were sent. He re- 
proves them as carnal, as tabes in Christ, and yet 
puffed up 3 . Those persons were proud of their 
intellectual and spiritual gifts ; and the reception of 
those Epistles involved a condemnation of them- 
selves. They would never have received those 
Epistles as inspired, unless they had been con- 
vinced, that the claims of the writer to Inspira- 
tion were true. 

The reception of all the Books of the New Tes- 
tament as of equally divine authority, is a proof of 
their Inspiration. 

IV. But it may be asked, — 

Are there not some portions of the New Testa- 
ment which were not at first received universally 
as the inspired Word of God ? 

" Zokw. s 1 Cor. vii. 40. 

9 1 Cor. ii. 13. * 2 Cor. xii. 12. 

2 1 Cor. iii. 1—3 ; v. 2. 



Inferences to be derived from partial non-reception, 91 
and subsequent universal reception, of those portions. 

Yes, certainly there are. 

The whole primitive Church received the Four 
Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, the Thir- 
teen Epistles which bear the name of St. Paul, 
and the First Epistle of St. Peter and of St. John. 
These Books were universally received at once by 
all Christendom, as soon as they were written. 

But there are some few minor parts of the New 
Testament, concerning which some particular 1 
Churches at first suspended their judgment. 

Such, for instance, was the Second Epistle of 
St. Peter. Some Churches waited for a time, and 
did not pronounce judgment upon that Epistle, 
till they were fully persuaded of its genuineness 
and inspiration. But, after careful examination, 
they received it ; and eventually all Churches in 
Christendom agreed in receiving all the Books of 
the New Testament as the Word of God. 

This very fact, that some of the Books of the 
New Testament were not received by all at first, 
is of great value. It proves the scrupulous care, 
with which those Books were examined, before 
they were received by the Church ; and the fact 
also, that those Books, concerning which some 
Churches doubted at first, were eventually received 
by all Churches, proves that they were rightly 
received. 

Y. To this testimony of the Holy Ghost, dwell- 
ing in the Catholic Church, receiving the whole 
of the New Testament, we appeal in support of 
our belief that all of it is the Word of God. 



92 Why we receive the witness of the Church Universal 
to the Inspiration of Scripture. 

Let us here obviate an objection. 

Let it not be supposed, that we are of opinion 
with some in the Church of Rome 3 , that the 
Church can give authority to Scripture. No ; the 
authority of Scripture comes from God, and God 
alone. The light is not from the Candlestick, 
but from the Candles ; it is not from the Church, 
but from the Scriptures, which are the Candles 
that Christ has lighted, and set in the Church. 
But the Church testifies to the divine authority of 
Scripture. John the Baptist was a shining 
light 4 , and bore witness to Christ. That witness 
was true ; for John was full of the Holy Ghost 5 
Who spake by him. But John did not give any 
authority to Christ. So the Church bears testi- 
mony to Scripture, and we appeal to that tes- 
timony as true : we appeal to it as the testimony 
of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost. 

And why ? Because Christ has said, that the 
gates of hell shall never prevail against His Church 6 , 
and that He will be ever with her, and will send 
her the Holy Spirit to teach her all things, to guide 
her into all truth, and to abide with her for ever "' . 

If the New Testament, which the Universal 
Church receives and reads as the Word of God, is 
only the word of man ; if the Church of God has 
not been led into truth in this vital matter; if th.Q 

3 Whose assertions to this effect may be seen in the Author's 
volume on the Canon of Scripture, p. 15. 

4 \vxvos, a lamp. John v. 35. 5 Luke i. 15. 

6 Matt. xvi. 18. "' John xiv. 16; xvi. 13. 



Providential course followed by the Church of 93 
England in this matter. 

whole Church of Christ has fallen into error in 
this fundamental article concerning the Inspira- 
tion of the New Testament, on which the fabric 
of her faith, and hope, and charity is built, then — 
we say it with all reverence — Christ's promise to 
His Church has failed. He has not sent the Holy 
Spirit to teach her all things, and to lead her into 
all truth, and to abide with her for ever. 

But, God forbid, my brethren, that any one 
should imagine this ! 

Christ is the Truth. He is the everlasting Yea 
and Amen 8 . Heaven and earth will pass aivay, 
but His words will not pass away 9 . Therefore 
His promise of presence and guidance to His 
Church has not failed. He speaks to us by her, 
to whom He has sent His Spirit, and He assures 
us by her voice and practice that all the Books 
of the New Testament, which she reads as in- 
spired, were given by the inspiration of God. 

VI. Thanks be to God, the Church of England 
was endued with wisdom, at her Reformation in 
the sixteenth century, to build her belief, and her 
people's belief, in the Inspiration of Holy Scrip- 
ture, on this good foundation. 

1. She did not say, — what some other religious 
communities did say at that time l , — that men's 
belief in the Inspiration of Scripture is to rest on 
their own inner illumination, or personal con- 
sciousness. She did not build her house on such 

3 Rev. iii. 14. Cp. 2 Cor. i. 20. 9 Luke xxi. 33. 

1 See above, pp. 23, 24. 



94 Calamitous consequences 

a floating quicksand as that. No : she appealed 
to the public judgment and concurrent practice 
of the Church of Christ Universal. In her Sixth 
Article 2 she says, "In the name of the Holy 
Sceiptuee we do understand those Canonical 
Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose 
authority was never any doubt in the Church. 33 
And because she well knew that there are some 
few portions of the New Testament — such as the 
Second Epistle of St. Peter, as already stated — 
concerning which there were some doubts at first 
in some Churches, but which were afterwards 
universally received, without any doubt, by the 
whole Catholic Church, she wisely adds, at the 
close of the same Article : "All the Books of the 
New Testament, as they are commonly received, we 
do receive and account them canonical." 

She also shows, what those Books are, by her 
Authorized Version of the Bible, and by her 
Calendar of Lessons of Holy Scripture, appointed 
to be read daily throughout the year. 

2. We cannot be too thankful, that the Church 
of our beloved Country was mercifully preserved 
from building on an unsound foundation in this 
momentous matter. Three centuries have elapsed 
since that Article was published ; and succeeding 



2 In the Thirty -nine Articles of the Church of England " as 
agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces 
and the whole Clergy, in the Convocation holden at London in 
the year 1562." 



of a different course. 95 

years bear witness to the wisdom with which it 
was framed. 

We have seen, and now see,, that other religious 
Communities, — particularly those foreign Pro- 
testant Churches, — which did not build on this 
foundation, but on the loose substructure of 
private opinion, or personal feeling, in this great 
question of Inspiration — have been, and are now, 
buffeted and bewildered by the winds and storms 
of Infidelity. They have separated Holy Scrip- 
ture from the Church, which is the appointed 
Keeper and Guardian of Scripture ; and therefore 
they have almost forfeited Scripture. There is 
scarcely any portion of the Bible, which has not 
now been gainsaid and rejected by some of their 
most eminent Teachers, relying with fond and 
overweening conceit on their own private imagi- 
nations, and dogmatizing rashly and recklessly 
on God's Holy Word, with arbitrary wilfulness, 
and disdainful contempt of Authority. They 
declaim loudly against the Papacy, but many a 
man among them sets up a private Popedom in 
his own person, and claims spiritual supremacy 
and infallibility for himself, and lords it over the 
faith of men. This self-confident dictation of 
crude, ill-digested opinions has engendered end- 
less strife ; this irrational abuse of reason, and 
injudicious perversion of private judgment, have 
brought discredit upon Keason, and have been 
disastrous to Faith. 

3. Blessed be God, the Church of England has 



96 The Church is the Candlestick, 

not been led astray by this fanatical spirit. She 
has been enabled to discharge faithfully the duty 
of a Church in the public reading of Holy Writ. 
Blessed be God, she reads day by day, throughout 
the year, several chapters of Holy Scripture to 
the People in their mother tongue. Blessed also 
be God, she builds her belief in the Inspiration 
of Scripture on a sound foundation ; she builds it 
on the testimony of Christ, speaking by His 
Church to the world. 

4. This method of proof has been dictated by 
Christ Himself. No man, He says, when he hath 
lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither 
under a bushel, but on a Candlestick, that they 
which come in may see the light. And again, He 
said, No man lighteth a candle and covereth it 
luith a vessel, or putteth it under a bed ; but setteth 
it on a Candlestick, that they which enter in may 
see the light. 

Christ is the Light of the World 3 . He lighted 
the candles of Holy Scripture, and He has put 
them into the Candlestick of His Church, which is 
appointed to guard and display the light of Holy 
Scripture kindled by Christ. Therefore Christ 
Himself, in the Book of Revelation, describes 
a Church under the figure of a Candlestick 4 . 

3 John viii. 12 ; ix. 5. 

4 Kvxvia — properly a lamp-stand ; a term even more significant 
of this office of the Church, than the English word candlestick ; 
for the lamp is fed with oil, which is an appropriate emblem of 
Holy Scripture, bestowed by the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Divine 
unction and grace, illuminating the world. See Rev. i. 11 — 13. 



in which the Candles of Scripture are lighted 97 
and set by Christ. 

Observe those seven-branched Candlesticks 
standing before the Altar of this Church. They 
are now dark. And why ? Because they have 
no candles in them. Such is a Church without 
Scripture. It is dark; a Candlestick without 
light. But put the Candles of Scripture into the 
Candlestick of the Church, and all may see the 
light. 

Again, if you light the candles, but put them 
into a vault or crypt 5 , or if you strew them on 
the ground, the candles are of little use; they 
soon go out. So, if you bury the Bible in the 
crypt and vault of a dead language, it is of little 
use. If you hide it from the people, it is of little 
use. Or if you cover it with the bushel of secular 
business, or put it beneath the bed of carnal in- 
dulgence, it is of little use. 

Or if, on the other hand, you scatter Bibles 
about at random, and do not put them into the 
Candlestick of the Church, they will be puffed 
and blown about with every wind of doctrine, and 
will flare and smoke, and soon go out. 

We must have the Candles, and we must have 
the Candlestick ; and the Candles must be put 
into the Candlestick, and they will give light to 
all. 

Christ has lighted the Candles of Holy Scrip- 
ture, and He has set them in the Candlestick of 
His Church. Let us not separate the Candles 
from the Candlestick, lest we derive no profit 
5 Kpinrr-qv, the true reading in the text, Luke xi. 33. 

H 



98 They icho separate the Bible from the Church, are in 
peril of losing both the Bible and the Church. 

from either. Let us not sever the Bible from the 
Church, lest we lose both. 

5. Look up to heaven. Behold Christ. He is 
the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh 
into the world 6 . He enlightened Moses, He en- 
lightened the Prophets before His Incarnation ; 
He enlightened the Apostles and Evangelists after 
His Incarnation. He sent the Holy Ghost to 
teach them all things, and to guide them into all 
truth, and to bring to their remembrance whatsoever 
Re had said unto them, and to diffuse the light of 
the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us 
wise unto salvation through faith in Him 7 . 

Christ, the Everlasting Woed, is the Author 
and Giver of the written Word s . 

6. Further, Christ is the Truth. He is the 
Way, the Truth, and the Life 9 . He is the faith- 
fid and true Witness \ He gave the Scriptures, 
and also bears testimony to their Inspiration. 
When He came down from Heaven and took our 
flesh, He acknowledged all the Books of the Old 
Testament to be given by Inspiration of God. 
And after His ascension into heaven, He esta- 
blished His Church, and sent the Holy Spirit to 

6 John i. 9. 7 2 Tim. iii. 15. 

b S. Augustine de Consens. Evangel, lib. i. cap. ult. well says, 
(i Qui Prophetas ante Suam descensionem rnisit, Ipse et Apostolos 
post Suam ascensionem misit . . . quicquid Ille de Suis factis et 
dictis nos legere voluit, hoc scribendum illis tanquam Suis manibus 
iniperavit." See also the passages quoted in the Preface to these 
Lectures. 

9 John xiv. 6. ' l Rev. iii. 14. 






They who separate the Bible from the Church, are in 99 
peril of losing loth the Bible and the Church. 

teach her all things, and to guide her into all 
truth, and to be for ever with her. The Holy 
Ghost speaks in her, and by her, and declares by 
her voice and practice, that the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments are the Word of the 
Living God. 

VII. Lastly, Christ gives the Holy Spirit to 
all those who seek for Him aright. He punishes 
ungodly men with spiritual blindness, so that 
they cannot see the light shining in Holy Scrip- 
ture. He chastises those who lead unholy lives, 
who would quench the light of Scripture, if they 
could, for it speaks to them of a Judgment to 
come. He allows them to close their eyes, and 
leaves them to themselves. Infidelity is the pun- 
ishment which evil men inflict on themselves by 
their sins. Every one that doeth evil hateth the 
light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds 
should be reproved 2 . Nor is it only carnal indul- 
gence, or worldliness, which produce spiritual 
blindness. Spiritual blindness often co-exists 
with great mental endowments. It is engendered 
by intellectual pride. God hides Himself from 
the wise and prudent, but revealeth Himself unto 
babes 3 . He resisteth the proud, but giveth grace 
unto the humble 4 . They who carp and cavil at 
Scripture, they who deny the truth and inspi- 
ration of Scripture, do despite to the Holy Spirit 
of God, who testifies to the divine authority of 

2 John iii. 20. 3 Luke x. 21. 

4 James iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 5. 

H 2 



100 Moral requisites for receiving the Bible. 

Scripture. They grieve the Holy Ghost. They 
provoke Him to leave them to themselves. And 
how can they see without Him who is the Light ? 
Their cavils against Scripture are precisely what 
might be expected. They are proofs of the 
blindness which is their chastisement for sinning 
against God the Holy Ghost. 

The angels of Christ's little ones see the face of 
God . We must become as little children, if we 
would behold Him, and see the wondrous things of 
His Law 6 . In order that the mind may be clear, 
the heart must be clean. We must seek for the 
truth, not by proud disputations, but by loving 
thoughts and words and deeds, by lowly reverence 
on our knees. We must seek it by holiness of 
life. If any man willeth to do God's will, he shall 
also know of the doctnne 7 . If any man love God, 
the same is known of God 8 , and is loved of God, 
and God reveals Himself to him. Mysteries are 
revealed unto the meek 9 . Them that are meek shall 
He guide in judgment ; and such as are gentle, them 
shall He learn His way \ 

Is this temper yours ? Are these dispositions 
yours ? Then, God knows, you will be enchanted 
and enraptured with the beauty and loveliness of 
Holy Scripture ; you will be transported with holy 
ecstacy in hearing and reading it. It will sound 
in your ears like heavenly music, chanted by the 
quires of the Seraphim. By the aid of the Holy 

5 Matt, xviii. 10. 6 Ps. cxix. 18. ' John vii. 17. 

8 1 Cor. viii. 3. » Ecclus. iii. 19. i Ps. xxv. 8. 






External evidence confirmed by internal. 101 

Spirit shed abroad in your hearts, in answer to your 
prayers, you will see the work of the Spirit in the 
Bible. You will say, Lord, how I love Thy Law, 
all the day long is my study in it. I rejoice at Thy 
Word as one that findeth great s}wil 2 . Thy testi- 
monies are my delight and my counsellors 3 . More 
to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine 
gold, sweeter also than honey, and the honeycomb 4 . 
You will never be weary of admiring the har-^ 
monious symmetry of all the parts of the Bible, 
the unsullied holiness of its precepts, the exact 
fulfilment of its prophecies, the tender gracious - 
ness of its promises, the marvellous glory of its 
revelations, displaying Christ the Sun of Righteous- 
ness, illumining our dark nature with the brilliant 
splendour of His light, and dwelling therein with 
the Shechinah of His Presence, and pouring upon 
it the riches of His grace, and preparing it for the 
everlasting fruition of heavenly bliss. You will 
never be tired of meditating on the wonderful 
adaptation of the Scriptures to our nature and our 
needs, to our cares and our sorrows, to our fears 
and our hopes, to our temptations and our trials ; 
you will never be satiated in contemplating the 
manifold blessings which have been produced by 
the Holy Scriptures in human hearts, and in 
human households, and in cities, kingdoms, and 
nations, wherever the Scriptures have been duly 
received, loved, and obeyed. 

2 Ps. cxix. 162. 3 p s> cx ix. 24. 97. 

4 Ps. xix. 10. 



102 Anticipations of a future state. 

Thus you will be confirmed, settled, and im- 
moveably established in your belief, which Christ, 
speaking in His Church, solemnly testifies to be 
true, that all Scripture is given by Inspiration of 
God 5 . And you may humbly believe and devoutly 
hope, that, if you have profited aright by its 
revelations upon earth, it will be your employment 
and joy, in a future, eternal state of existence, to 
have a fuller insight into those Mysteries, of which 
the Scriptures speak, and which Angels desire to 
look into 6 ; and to have an everlasting vision in 
heaven, of the manifold wisdom of God. 

5 2 Tim. iii. 16. 6 1 Pet. i. 12. 



LECTURE V. 



2 Timothy iii. 16, 17. 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable 
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right- 
eousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly fur- 
nished unto all good ivories. 

T. Be ready always to give an answer to every man 
that asketh yon a reason of the hope that is in you. 
This is the precept of St. Peter 1 . The hope that 
is in us, is grounded on a belief that the Bible is 
the Word of God ; and the Apostle may therefore 
be understood to require us to be ready always to 
render to others an account of the reasons which 
constrain us, and ought to persuade them, to 
receive the Bible as God's Holy Word. 

1. This being the case, we have in a previous 
lecture 2 declared ourselves unable to agree with 
those, who rest their belief in the Inspiration of 
the Bible on their own personal assurance of its 
Inspiration. Such an assurance, however satis- 
factory to themselves, can have no influence with 
1 1 Pet. iii. 15. 2 See above, pp. 20—21. 



104 Recapitulation. 

other men; it will never bring an unbeliever to 
acknowledge the Bible to be from God. 

2. Besides, the history of the last three cen- 
turies, and especially of our own age, has dis- 
played the disastrous consequences of such a 
method of dealing with this great question of 
Inspiration. 

The appeal to private feelings and assurances 
was first employed in defence of the Bible; but it 
has now been turned against it; and they who 
rely on private feelings and personal assurances, 
as their ground for believing the Bible, cannot 
make any effectual reply to those who appeal to 
their own private feelings and personal assurances 
as their reason for rejecting it. 

The dogmas of Private Judgment have produced 
the doubts of Infidelity. The advantages which 
have been given to Scepticism by that appeal to 
personal feelings and private opinions, and the 
baneful fruits which it is now bringing forth in 
our own land, warn us most solemnly to consider 
well our first principles. 

3. We need something much more sound, solid, 
and stable, than our own consciousness, to refute 
the assaults of Unbelief, and to sustain our own 
faith and that of others in the divine Inspiration 
of the Bible ; and also, if God so will, to bring the 
Sceptic and Unbeliever to acknowledge that all 
Scripture is given by Inspiration of God. 

4. It has been my endeavour to do something, 
with God's help, in this great work of building up 



Recapitulation. 105 

our old waste places, and raising up the foundations 
of many generations* and repairing the breach that 
has been made by some, who ought themselves to 
be builders ; and with this aim and purpose, the 
Discourses have been delivered on this subject 
which have been lately addressed to you in this 
place. 

Eeasonable men require sound reasons for what 
they do; and their assent to any proposition is 
proportioned to the reasons given in support of 
it; and the influence, which any proposition 
exercises on their conduct, is also proportioned to 
the conviction produced by those reasons in their 
minds. 

II. What, then, are our reasons for belief in 
the Inspiration of Holy Scripture? 

1. Our answer to this question, as you may 
remember, was : We have the authority of Gop 
Himself, declared to us in the uniform consent 
and practice of His own People, acknowledging 
the Old Testament to be His Word. We have 
that acknowledgment authorized and confirmed 
by the Son of JjtOD, when He came down from 
heaven and dwelt among us. And for our belief 
in the Inspiration of the New Testament as well 
as of the Old, we have the testimony of the Son of 
God, speaking by the voice of God the Holy 
Ghost in the Church Universal, to which He has 
promised His presence and His guidance, even to 
the end. 

3 Isa. lviii. 12. 



106 The previous proof of the Inspiration of the Bible 
is confirmed by the evidence of God's care of the Bible. 

2. The value of this testimony to the Inspira- 
tion of Holy Scripture is its comprehensiveness 
and universality. Other arguments apply with 
greater or less force to portions of Holy Writ. 
But this testimony extends to the ivhole Bible. It 
covers the whole with a divine panoply. It 
authenticates the whole as the Inspired Word of 
God ; it proves, that all Scripture — every part of 
Scripture — is given by Inspiration of God. 

III. To this point in the argument we had 
arrived in the last discourse. 

Let us now proceed to observe, that the 
strength of this general testimony of God the 
Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, to the Inspira- 
tion of Holy Scripture, is corroborated by other 
subsequent considerations, which accrue with 
cumulative force, and settle and stablish us more 
firmly in the belief, that the Scriptures are the 
Word of God. 

What, then, are these considerations ? This 
will be the subject of our present inquiry. 

1. First, then, we are confirmed in our belief 
of the Inspiration of the Bible by observing the 
evidences of a providential design carried on 
during many ages in succession, for protecting the 
Bible, and for assuring us that Holy Scripture is 
God's Word. 

If the Bible were not His Word, it would be 
nothing else than & forgery put forth in His name. 
For, it professes to deliver a message from God, 
and to give revelations of His nature and attri- 



God" s providential care of the Bible confirms it. 107 

butes, and to unfold the liidden mysteries of the 
spiritual world. 

If , therefore, the Bible is not from God, it is a 
counterfeit coin, bearing His impress : it is a 
profane outrage against Him, and a fraudulent 
imposture upon mankind. Consequently it would 
be viewed with indignation by Him Who is a God 
of justice and truth. 

But look back upon the past. Ever since the 
Bible was written, Almighty God has continued 
to protect it. He-has Dever ceased to acknowledge 
it as His own. ' When the first books of the Bible 
— namely, the books of Moses — were written, He 
received them under His divine guardianship in 
the Holy of Holies 4 . In critical times, He has 
ever interfered to save it. When the Old Testa- 
ment was in peril of being lost, through the 
corruption and idolatry of Princes, Priests and 
People, He brought forth the original volume of 
the Law from its sacred retreat in the days of 
good King Josiah, who in his own name, and in 
that of his people, proclaimed it to be the Word 
of God 5 . 

The subsequent dispersion of the Jeivs for 
their sins was made ministerial, as we have 
seen 6 , to the preservation and dissemination of 
God's Holy Word in almpst all countries, where 
Synagogues were erected by the Jews, in which 



4 See above, pp. 44, 45. 5 See above, p. 45. 
6 See above, pp. 38-40. 53, 54. 



108 God's care of the Bible confirms our belief. 

the Old Testament was publicly read every Sab- 
bath day. 

Afterwards, in an evil time, Antiochus Epi- 
phanes the King of Syria arose, and set up the 
abomination of desolation in the Temple of God 
at Jerusalem; and endeavoured to compel the 
Jews to worship the gods of the Heathen; and 
sent forth his own soldiers to destroy the copies 
of the Old Testament, who rent in 'pieces the Books 
of the Law uhich they found, and burnt them with 
fire ; and whosoever ivas found with any such Book 
was put to death by the King's command 7 . 

In that critical juncture Almighty God inter- 
posed to rescue His own Word, and the perse- 
cuting King was suddenly cut off by a miserable 
death 8 . 

About a century and a half passed away, and 
the Son of God came down from heaven. At that 
time the Word of God was publicly read by the 
Jews in the Synagogues of Palestine, and in 
almost every city of the civilized world. But its 
sense was overlaid and obscured by human tra- 
ditions. The Son of God acknowledged the Old 
Testament in the hands of the Jews. He owned 
it to be God's Word. He showed His zeal for it 
by sternly rebuking the Pharisees for making it 
of none effect by their tradition 9 . But He never 
rebuked them for receiving it as God's Word. 

7 1 Mac. i. 54, 55—57. 

s 1 Mac. vi. 12, 13. 16. 2 Mac. ix. 11—18. 28. 

9 Matt. xv. 3. 6. 



Goers care for the Bible. 109 

No : on the contrary, He joined with them in the 
service of their Synagogues, and in reading and 
expounding the Old Testament as God's Word 1 . 
And His Apostles, and His Church after them, 
beiug taught by the Holy Ghost, sent by the Son 
of God, received the Old Testament as inspired by 
God ; and commanded all men to receive it as 
such. 

At the beginning of the fourth century after 
Christ, a fierce persecution arose against His 
Church. The Emperor of the Roman World, 
Diocletian, endeavoured to destroy the Bible. 
He ordered diligent search to be made in all parts 
of the Empire for copies of the New Testament 2 , 
and commanded them to be burnt. But God 
again interfered to save it. The sacred Bush ivas 
burning, but it ivas not consumed, and God's voice 
came forth from the midst of it 3 . In a few years 
afterwards, He raised up another Sovereign of the 
Roman World, Constantine, the first Emperor 
who embraced Christianity; and by his royal 
command copies of the Holy Scriptures were 
multiplied, and Churches were built, in which 
those Scriptures were read, as the Inspired Word 
of God. 

A thousand years passed away. Then was an 
evil time for Holy Scripture. The Bible was not 
dead ; but it was buried. It was entombed in the 



See above, pp. 62—69. 2 Huseb. H. E. viii. 2. 

3 Exod. iii. 2. 4. 



110 History of the Bible in England. 

sepulchre of a dead language. Not to speak of 
other lands, but only of our own, not a single 
copy of the Bible existed at that time in England 
in our tongue. But then arose John Wickliffe. 
Five hundred years ago, he translated the Bible 
into English 4 . In that age copies of the Bible 
could only be had in manuscript; and four and 
twenty years after his death it was. decreed 6 by 
some in high place among us, that " no one 
should hereafter translate any text into English, 
and that no book of this kind should be read that 
was composed by John Wickliffe." 

There was then a famine of hearing GooVs 
Word 6 in England. 

But in fifty years' time, the art of Printing was 
invented, and William Caxton set up his press at 
Westminster 7 . And about the year 1526 William 
Tyndal made and published in London his Trans- 
lation of the Bible — the first Translation that ever 
was printed in this land. The Author of this 
Translation, and his coadjutor John Frith, died 
nobly as Martyrs for the Faith; and the light 
which they kindled has never been put out. Two 
centuries and a half after the first Translation of 
the Bible into English by Wickliffe, and about two 
centuries and a half ago, — that is, in the year of 
j our Lord 1611, — our own "Authorized Version '> 

4 See Lewis, History of English Translations of the Bible., 
pp. 18—27. Lond. 1739. 

5 By Archbishop Arundel, in a Constitution at Oxford, 1408. 

6 Amos viii. 11. ' a.d. 1474. 



History of the Bible in England. Ill 

was published. That noble Translation was made 
by a goodly company of pious and learned men, at 
the head of whom stood a Dean of Westminster 8 ; 
and by God's blessing on their labours, and on 
those of others in this and other lands, especially 
our religious Societies, the Holy Scriptures are 
now diffused everywhere. Their sound is gone 
out into all lands, and their ivords into the ends of 
the world 9 . This is the Lord's doing, and it is 
marvellous in our eyes l . 

Surely these events, extending over a range of 
more than three thousand years, afford practical 
attestation from God Himself, that the Bible is 
His Word. Surely they may inspire us with the 
cheering assurance, that, however Satan may as- 
sail it, God will protect it unto the end. 

2. Another evidence of the Inspiration of Holy 
Scripture is seen in the fulfilment of the Prophecies, 
which are contained therein. God, and God alone, 
can foresee the future. He challenges false gods 
by saying, " Show us what shall happen, declare us 
things for to come 2 .' 3 

Let this test be applied to the Books of the Old 
Testament. 

Can any other writings in the world be named, 
composed at such different times, in such different 
places, and by the instrumentality of such dif- 

8 Dean — afterwards Bishop — Andre wes. See Lewis's History 
of the Translations of the Bible, p. 308. 

9 Ps. xix. 4. * Ps. cxviii. 23. 
2 Isa. xli. 22. 



] 12 The fulfilment of the Prophecies of Scripture 
confirms the belief in its Inspiration. 

f erent persons, as the Books of the Old Testament ; 
and delivering snch a long series of Prophecies, as 
those, for instance, which concern the Messiah, and 
begin with the Book of Genesis, and end with that 
of Malachi ; can any other writings be named, 
containing Prophecies so minnte, so various, and 
seemingly so contradictory — as, for example, those 
which pre-annonnce a Messiah, suffering the most 
shameful and agonizing death, and yet triumphing 
as a mighty Conqueror, and reigning as a glorious 
King — and all punctually fulfilled, fulfilled by the 
agency of that very people — the Jews — who heard 
those prophecies every Sabbath day in their Syna- 
gogues ; and yet, as St. Paul says, fulfilled them 
in condemning Him of whom those Prophecies 
speak ? 

Here, then, is another proof that the Books of 
the Old Testament are animated by the breath of 
God. 

3. Consider also the wonderful symmetry of the 
various parts of the Bible. 

Its subject-matter reaches from the Creation to 
the End of time. Its Books were written by dif- 
ferent persons in distant ages and countries. And 
yet how marvellously do they harmonize together ! 
They are like Christ's vesture, woven without seam 3 . 
They are like the wings of the Cherubim, as de- 
scribed by Ezekiel, intertwined and interlaced 
together \ The Jewish Doctors said that the 

3 .John xix. 23. 4 Ezek. i. 9. 11, 12. 



The harmony of the various parts of the Bible 113 
confirms the proof of its Inspiration. 

words of the Pentateuch, make one word; and 
there is a spiritual truth in the saying. The 
Books of the Bible are all fitted together. The 
Law prepares the way for the Prophets, and the 
Prophets proclaim the Sanctity of the Law. The 
New Testament lies hid in the Old Testament, and 
the Old Testament is opened in the New. All the 
Books of the Bible are joined together, and form 
one Book. 

No human design could have produced such a 
result as this. It is the work of Him who sees all 
things at a glance to the end from the beginning , 
and with Whom one day is as a thousand years, and 
a thousand years as one day 6 . 

Here is another evidence that the Bible is from 
God. 

4. Let us also reflect what hind of persons they 
were, who were employed to write the Bible. 

The Bible, particularly the New Testament, pro- 
fesses to unfold things hidden from the foundation 
of the world '. The Gospels claim to be records of 
the sayings of the Son of God, revealing the 
secret Mysteries of His heavenly Kingdom. 
And who were the persons chosen to write these 
marvels ? Their enemies justly said that they 
were unlearned and ignorant men 8 . True: such 
they were in themselves, Publicans and Fishermen 
of Galilee. Yet these unlearned and ignorant men 

5 Isa. xlvi. 10. 6 2 Pet. iii. 8. 

7 Matt. xiii. 35. s Acts iv. 13. 

I 



114 Weakness of instruments used in writing the Bible, 
and the work done thereby, prove its divine origin. 

have become the Teachers of the World. They 
are the Historians of the greatest deeds that ever 
were done ; they are the Chroniclers of the wisest 
sayings that were ever spoken, and they are the 
utterers of the most heavenly Sermons that were 
ever preached. And the World has received their 
words, — has received them as divine. The Gos- 
pels are read everywhere. God has evangelized 
the learned and wise by means of the simple and 
foolish ; and not the simple and foolish by means 
of the learned and wise. As S. Augustine says, 
" He caught the Orator by the Fisherman ; and 
not the Fisherman by the Orator 9 ." 

The greatest sages of this world — the Bacons 
and Newtons, the Keplers and Pascals — have 
deemed it their highest privilege to sit down as 
little children at the feet of the holy Evangelists. 

How could this be done ? 

Certainly not by the writers themselves. Of 
themselves they could do nothing. Their sufficiency 
was of God \ But according to His promise, 
Christ sent the Holy Ghost, to lead them into all 
truth, and to bring all things to their remembrance, 
whatsoever He had said to them. 

He chose weak instruments for this mighty work 
of evangelizing the world, in order that by the 
weakness of the instruments chosen, and by the 

9 Piscatorem de Oratore non lucratus estChristus, sed Oratorem 
de Piscatore. S. Augustine, de Utilitate Jejunii ix., and Serm. 
xliii. and Ixxxvii., and in Ps. cxlix. 

i 2 Cor. iii. 5. 



The beneficial effects produced by the Bible llo 
prove it to be of God. 

greatness of the work done through their instru- 
mentality, it might be evident to all, that the 
work was not of them, but of God. The treasure 
of heavenly truth was committed to earthen 
vessels, in order that the excellency of the power 
of the Gospel might be seen to be of God, and not 
of men 2 . 

5. Let us reflect also on the beneficent effects 
produced by the Bible on the world. 

Here is another proof that the Scriptures are 
from God. The Bible speaks in God's name, and 
professes to be God's Word. And if it is not in 
fact what in name it professes to be, then it has 
a lie in every page, and it is not from God, 
but from the Evil One. Every plant, which My 
Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up, 
says Christ 3 . And, A Tree is known by its fruits 4 . 

What, then, have been the fruits of the Bible ? 

Do they not show that the tree is a good tree, 
that it is a tree of life, and that its leaves are for 
the healing of the Nations 5 ? 

This is the fact on which St. Paul insists, when 
he says that All Scripture, or rather every Scrip-. 
ture 6 , being divinely inspired, or inbreathed by 
God, is also 7 profitable for doctrine, for reproof , for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the 
man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished 

2 2 Cor. iv. 7. 3 Matt. xv. 13. 

4 Matt. vii. 16; xii. 33. Luke vi. 43. 5 Rev. xxii. 2. 

6 Truaa ypacpT) i. e. Every portion of the Holy Book is inspired, 
and forms a living portion of a living organic whole. 
" no.'.; this -is probably the true reading of the text. 

i 2 



116 The good effects produced by the Bible 

prove it to be of God. 

unto every good work. What is the condition of 
men without it ? and what is their condition, 
wherever they receive and obey it ? 

The Bible, and the Bible alone, makes subjects 
loyal to their Sovereigns, because it teaches them 
that, in obeying their Sovereign, they are obeying 
God, and will be rewarded hereafter by Him 8 . 
The Bible, and the Bible alone, makes Sovereigns 
rule rightly, because it reminds them that they 
must render a strict account of their rule to the 
King of kings. The Bible makes Judges and 
Magistrates judge just judgment, because it tells 
them, that they must one day stand before the 
Judgment-seat of Christ. The Bible makes Mas- 
ters kind to their Servants, because it declares to 
all Masters, that they have a Master in heaven 9 . 
The Bible makes Servants faithful to their Mas- 
ters, because it assures all Servants that they are 
Christ's freemen, and will receive a reward for 
dutiful service, at the Great Day 1 . The Bible 
persuades busy men to forego their business, and 
makes tender women forget their tenderness, and 
visit Prisons and Hospitals, and minister at the 
bedside of the sick, and watch over the dying ; 
because they know, that what they do to the least 
of Christ's brethren on earth, they do it unto Him, 
and that He will requite them for it at the Great 
Day 2 . The Bible, and the Bible alone, unlocks the 

8 Rom. xiii. 1—3. 9 Eph. vi. 9. Col. iv. 1. 

i Eph. vi. 5. Col. iii. 22. Titus ii. 9. 1 Pet. ii. 18. 22. 
2 Matt. xxr. 40, 



The beneficial effects produced by the Bible, in 117 
nations and families, prove it to be of God. 

fetters of the slave, and makes all men brethren in 
Christ 3 . The Bible sends forth the Missionary to 
heathen lands, to loose the chains of the soul. 
The Bible, and the Bible alone, operates on the 
mainspring of human actions — the heart. The 
Bible makes men honest and just, kind and chari- 
table in their thoughts and speeches, as well as in 
their acts, because it teaches them, that all tilings 
are naked and open to the eyes of Kim ivith Whom 
they have to do 4 , and that He will bring to light 
the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest 
the counsels of the hearts . The Bible makes 
Husbands and Wives faithful and loving to each 
other, because it teaches, that Marriage was in- 
stituted by God in Paradise, and that it represents 
the spiritual union and wedlock between Christ 
and His Church, and that whoever dishonours 
Marriage desecrates a great Mystery 6 . The Bible 
makes young men and young women live pure, 
chaste, and holy lives, because it teaches them 
that their bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost, and 
that whosoever defiles the Temple of God, him will 
God destroy 7 , and that their bodies are members of 
Christ, and are to be held in honour as such 8 ; 
and that their bodies will be raised again from the 
grave, and that they must then give an account 
of the things done in the body 9 , and that, if they 

3 Phiiem. 16. 4 Heb. iv. 13. 

^ 1 Cor. iv. 5. 6 Eph. v. 22—32. 

i 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17; vi. 19. » 1 Cor. vi. 15. 1 Thess. iv. 4. 

9 Eom ii. 6 : xiv. 12. 2 Cor. v. 10. 



118 The good effects produced by the Bible -prove it 
to be of God. 

have presented their bodies a living sacrifice to 
God upon earth l , in holiness and pureness of 
living, their bodies will rise from the grave, and 
live hereafter in heaven, in everlasting health and 
angelic beauty, and be made like unto Christ's 
glorious body, according to the mighty working 
whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Him- 
self 2 . 

What shall we say more? The Bible is the 
fountain of all true Patriotism and Loyalty in 
States ; it is the source of all true wisdom, sound 
policy and equity in Senates, Council- chambers, 
and Courts of Justice ; it is the spring of all true 
discipline and obedience, and of all valour and 
chivalry in Armies and Fleets, on the battle-field 
and on the wide sea. It is the origin of all pro- 
bity and integrity in Commerce and in Trade, in 
Marts and in Shops, in Banking-houses and Ex 
changes ; in the public resorts of men, and in the 
secret silence of the heart. It is the pure unsul 
lied fountain of all love and peace, happiness, 
quietness, and joy, in families and households. 
Wherever it is duly obeyed, it makes the desert of 
the World to rejoice and blossom as the rose*. 

These are the fruits of the Bible. Surely we 
may conclude from them, that the Tree which 
bears them has been planted by the hand of God, 
and is watered by the dews and showers of His 
Spirit, and is warmed by the sunshine of His 

: Born. xii. 1. 2 Phil. iii. 21. 

3 Isa. xxxv. 1. 



■- 



Testimony of the English Nation to the sanctity 119 
of the Bible, at the Coronation of its Sovereigns. 

grace; — that it is God's Tree, and will flourish 
for evermore. 

TV. Finally, let us look around. The place in 
which we now are, is full of instruction. In this 
ancient Minster, Kings and Queens are crowned : 
and at their Coronation, that Sacred Yolume, the 
Holy Biele, is taken from that Altar ; and that 
Blessed Book is placed in the Monarch's hands, 
with these solemn words, uttered by the public 
Voice of the English Church and Nation, at that 
august ceremonial 4 : — 

u Our Gracious Sovereign ! we present you with 
this Book, the most valuable thing that this world 
affords. Here is Wisdom ; this is the Royal Law; 
these are the lively Oracles of God. Blessed is he 
that readeth, and they that keep the Words of 
this Book ; that keep and do the things contained 
in it. For these are the words of eternal Life, 
able to make you wise and happy in this world, 
nay, wise unto salvation; and so, happy for ever- 
more, through faith which is in Christ Jesus ; to 
whom be glory for ever. Amen." 

Again look around. We are assembled here 
to-day on the eve of a funeral — the funeral of the 
venerated Mother of our beloved Queen. Medi- 
tations on royal deaths, and on royal funerals, 
find a proper place here. For here Kings and 



4 See the " Form and Order of Coronation of the Kings and 
Queens of Great Britain and Ireland, in the Abbey Church of 
St. Peter, Westminster." 



120 Meditations on the Bible suggested by West- 
minster Abbey. 

Queens rest in their graves. Here Princes and 
Nobles sleep in the dust. Here lie Statesmen 
and Orators, Legislators and Judges, Philoso- 
phers, Poets, and Historians, Captains and Con- 
querors. 

Now consider this. We have indeed disclaimed 
the notion of some, that the feelings of man afford 
an adequate evidence of the truth of God. But 
heaven forbid that we should entertain a doubt that 
the "W ord of God finds a genuine response in the 
heart of man. What then shall we here say ? 

At their last hour, when the shadows of death 
were falling upon them, when the heart was beat- 
ing feebly and faintly, and the hand could hardly 
prop the drooping head, when the eyes were be- 
ginning to be bedimmed with the cloud and mist 
of mortality, where, then, was their stay and sup- 
port ? At that awful hour, did the Sovereign find 
any solid comfort in meditating on the vast extent 
of his dominions, or on the long duration of his 
reign ? No. Did the Princes and Nobles, who 
here lie buried, derive any real consolation from 
the splendour of their stately mansions, or the 
beauty of their wide demesnes, or from their 
patrician badges and titles, and the long line of 
their ancestral dignities ? No : at that solemn 
hour, all these were vanishing like a dream. Did 
the Statesman obtain any comfortable assurance 
from his political sagacity, or the Orator from his 
brilliant eloquence ? No : these things were like 
fading flowers. Did the Legislator or the Judge 



Proofs of the divine power of the Bible, as 121 
contrasted with all human aids. 

find any assistance in their Codes and Law Books ? 
No : they themselves were summoned to Judg- 
ment. Could the Philosopher solace himself with 
musing on his Problems and Theories, or the Poet 
with the remembrance of his songs ? No : these 
ivere like a tale that is told". Could the Historian 
procure peace for his soul from his records of past 
ages ? No : he himself was passing away. Could 
the seafaring Captain obtain a spiritual calm from 
his long voyages to distant climes ? No : he must 
now take another voyage to an unexplored region, 
where no earthly chart or compass would guide 
him. He must now set sail for Eternity. Did the 
General or Admiral, — the heroes of many bat- 
tles, — gather hope and joy for themselves from 
their laurels gained in the conflicts of war ? No : 
they must prepare now for a sharper struggle with 
Spiritual Powers, against which the Artillery of 
this world would be of no avail. But, had they, 
then, no comfort in that hour of Death ? Misera- 
ble, miserable indeed, if such was then the case ! 
Had they no comfort ? And if they had, where was 
it ? It was in the Bible. If they had believed its 
doctrines, and had obeyed its precepts, and if they 
had trusted in its promises, if they had lived and 
fed on it as living bread from heaven, then there 
was hope in their end. Then there was peace in 
their death, through the might and mercy of Him 
who died for them, and was buried, and over- 
came, and rose again, and opened the kingdom 
5 Ps. xc. 9. 



122 At the hour of Death, and in prospect of Eternity. 

of heaven to all believers. Then, though they 
walked through the valley and shadow of death, they 
feared no evil, for He was with them*. Then they 
fell asleep in peace, and in hope to awake with 
joy. Then Death to them was Birth, — Birth to 
endless life. Then they felt in their inmost 
hearts, that belief in the inspiration of the Bible 
— a belief based on the soundest reason — is able 
to speak comfort to the soul. Then they realized 
its power. Then it proved its virtue. Then they 
knew that ivhatsoever had been loritten aforetime 
had been written for their learning, that they through 
patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have 
hope 7 . Then they found, by personal experience, 
that a few verses of the Bible, heard with the ear 
of faith, are of more worth than crowns and 
coronets; that they are of more value than all the 
wealth and grandeur, all the mansions and estates, 
all the eloquence and wisdom, all the genius and 
science, all the triumphs and trophies, of this 
world. Then they drank a refreshing stream of 
heavenly peace and joy from such blessed words 
as these, I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith 
the Lord : he that believeth in Me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live : and he that liveth and be- 
lieveth in Me shall never die 8 . Verily, verily, I 
say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth 
on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and 
shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from 

e Ps. xxiii. 4. 7 Roin. xv. 4. s John xi. 25, 26. 



The Day of Judgment will prove the truth of the 123 
Bible. 

death unto life 9 . Then they were able to say, 
Death, where is thy sting ? Grave, where is 
tliy Victory ? Thanhs be to God wlio giveth us the 
Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ l . Then 
there was divine music for them in those heavenly 
words, I heard a voicefrom heaven, saying unto me, 
Write, Blessed are the dead ivhich die in the Lord : 
Even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their 
labours 2 . 

Brethren, may this support be ours, in our last 
hour ! It will be ours, be sure, if we live and die 
in the belief, that all Scripture is given by inspira- 
tion of God. And hereafter, at the great and 
dreadful Day, when the Elements shall melt with 
fervent heat 3 , and when the Volume of this visible 
Creation will no more be legible; when all the 
fair characters now written in earth and sky upon 
the pages of the book of Nature, will be effaced 
and obliterated, and the heavens themselves ivill 
depart as a scroll 4 , — then the Woed of God will 
remain unchanged ; its letters are indelible, they 
will endure for ever \ Heaven and earth shall pass 
away, says Christ, but My Words shall not pass 
aiuay 6 . Blessed, therefore, is he that heareth and 
keepeth the sayings of that Booh 7 , blessed indeed is 
he — blessed for evermore ! 

9 John v. 24. 1 1 Cor. xv. 55. 

2 Kev. xiv. 13. 3 2 Pet. iii. 10. 

4 Isa. xxxiv. 4. Rev. vi. 14. b 1 Pet. i. 25. 

6 Matt. xxiv. 35. 7 Rev. i. 3; xxii. 7. 






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